BildvsbillyTell them apart

Which to use

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

#349
“Bild” frequency rank
#8,842
“billy” frequency rank
9191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bild billy
Definition (künstlerische) zweidimensionale Darstellung und Wiedergabe in Form eines Gemäldes, einer Zeichnung oder Grafik der Behälter zum Gebrauch über dem Lagerfeuer

Where the eye mixes Bild and billy

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

4 ch
Bild
5 ch
billy

Look-alike desk: Bild vs billy

A purely visual mix-up. Bild ([bɪlt]) and billy ([ˈbɪli]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bild is recorded at frequency rank #349, classified as anoun, pronounced [bɪlt]. billy is at rank #8,842, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪli].

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 9191, this pair ranks #1,981,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bild vs billy

Shared letters: bil. Private to "Bild": d. Private to "billy": y.

"Bild" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "billy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bildbbild · bidl · bildd · billd · blid · ibld
  • billybbilly · billyy · bily · bilyl · blily · iblly

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Bild" and "billy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([bɪlt] versus [ˈbɪli]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Bild" or "billy"?
"Bild" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #349 in our German list, against #8,842 for "billy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Bild" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "billy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,981,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bild" and "billy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bills vs billy". 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 #1,981,050 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