billigevsbilligerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,841
“billige” frequency rank
#5,918
“billiger” frequency rank
14759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature billige billiger
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs billig Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs billig

Where the eye mixes billige and billiger

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. billige runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against billiger's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
billige
8 ch
billiger

Look-alike desk: billige vs billiger

A purely visual mix-up. billige ([ˈbɪlɪɡə]) and billiger ([ˈbɪlɪɡɐ]) 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 extra letter(s) - “billige” sits inside “billiger”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

billige is recorded at frequency rank #8,841, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɪlɪɡə]. billiger is at rank #5,918, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈbɪlɪɡɐ].

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 14759, this pair ranks #1,948,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of billige vs billiger

Shared letters: begil. Private to "billige": -. Private to "billiger": r.

"billige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "billiger" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • billigebbillige · bilige · bililge · billgie · billieg · billigge · blilige · ibllige
  • billigerbbilliger · biliger · bililger · billgier · billiegr · billigerr · billigger · billigre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "billige" and "billiger" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɪlɪɡə] versus [ˈbɪlɪɡɐ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "billige" or "billiger"?
"billiger" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,918 in our German list, against #8,841 for "billige". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "billige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "billiger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,948,961 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "billige" and "billiger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "billige vs billigte". 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 #1,948,961 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