BildvsbillWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#349
“Bild” frequency rank
#4,498
“bill” frequency rank
4847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bild bill
Definition (künstlerische) zweidimensionale Darstellung und Wiedergabe in Form eines Gemäldes, einer Zeichnung oder Grafik Rechnung, Abrechnung

Where the eye mixes Bild and bill

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Bild
4 ch
bill

Why the eye confuses Bild with bill

A purely visual mix-up. Bild ([bɪlt]) and bill ([bɪl]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “Bild” becomes l in “bill”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bild is recorded at frequency rank #349, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɪlt]. bill is at rank #4,498, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɪl].

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 4847, this pair ranks #1,996,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bild vs bill

Shared letters: bil. Private to "Bild": d. Private to "bill": -.

"Bild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bill" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bildbbild · bidl · bildd · billd · blid · ibld
  • billbbill · bil · blil · ibll

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bild" and "bill" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([bɪlt] versus [bɪl]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bild" or "bill"?
"Bild" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #349 in our German list, against #4,498 for "bill". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bild" and "bill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bill vs Bims". 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 #1,996,493 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