billigevsBillionWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: billige is a adjective, Billion is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“billige” is an adjective and “Billion” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,841
“billige” frequency rank
#36,226
“Billion” frequency rank
45067
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature billige Billion
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs billig 1.000.000.000.000 = 10¹² ( eine Million Millionen bzw. eine Million hoch zwei gleich „bi-“);

Where the eye mixes billige and Billion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
billige
7 ch
Billion

Visual trap between billige and Billion

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: billige is [ˈbɪlɪɡə] while Billion is [bɪˈli̯oːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45067, 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]. Billion is at rank #36,226, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bɪˈli̯oːn].

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 45067, this pair ranks #1,365,603 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of billige vs Billion

Shared letters: bil. Private to "billige": eg. Private to "Billion": no.

"billige" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "Billion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • billigebbillige · bilige · bililge · billgie · billieg · billigge · blilige · ibllige
  • Billionbbillion · bililon · bilion · billino · billionn · billoin · blilion · ibllion

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "billige" for "Billion" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "billige" is an adjective and "Billion" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "billige" or "Billion" show up more?
"billige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,841 in our German list, against #36,226 for "Billion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "billige" and "Billion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "billige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Billion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,365,603 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "billige" and "Billion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "billigt vs Billion". 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 #1,365,603 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