bikevsbittWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bike” and “bitt” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,516
“bike” frequency rank
#44,494
“bitt” frequency rank
54010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bike bitt
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs biken 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bitten

Where the eye mixes bike and bitt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. bike (CVCV) and bitt (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
bike
4 ch
bitt

Visual trap between bike and bitt

A purely visual mix-up. bike ([ˈbaɪ̯kə]) and bitt ([bɪt]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bike is recorded at frequency rank #9,516, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈbaɪ̯kə]. bitt is at rank #44,494, tagged as averb, pronounced [bɪt].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 54010, this pair ranks #1,035,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bike vs bitt

Shared letters: bi. Private to "bike": ek. Private to "bitt": t.

"bike" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "bitt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bike ← bbike · biek · bikke · bkie · ibke
  • bitt ← bbitt · btit · ibtt

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bike" and "bitt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbaɪ̯kə] versus [bɪt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "bike" or "bitt" show up more?
"bike" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,516 in our German list, against #44,494 for "bitt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bike" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bitt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,035,605 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bike" and "bitt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bims vs bitt". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,035,605 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list