BittevsByteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#183
“Bitte” frequency rank
#36,238
“Byte” frequency rank
36421
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Bitte Byte
Definition höfliche Ausdrucksform eines Wunsches, einer Aufforderung, eines Ersuchens Maßeinheit der Datenmenge, wobei ein Byte genau acht Bit entspricht

Where the eye mixes Bitte and Byte

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

5 ch
Bitte
4 ch
Byte

Why the eye confuses Bitte with Byte

A purely visual mix-up. Bitte ([ˈbɪtə]) and Byte ([baɪ̯t]) 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 36421, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Bitte is recorded at frequency rank #183, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbɪtə]. Byte is at rank #36,238, tagged as anoun, pronounced [baɪ̯t].

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 36421, this pair ranks #1,616,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Bitte vs Byte

Shared letters: bet. Private to "Bitte": i. Private to "Byte": y.

"Bitte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Byte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Bittebbitte · bite · bitet · btite · ibtte
  • Bytebbyte · btye · byet · bytte · byyte · ybte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Bitte" and "Byte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbɪtə] versus [baɪ̯t]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Bitte" or "Byte" show up more?
"Bitte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #183 in our German list, against #36,238 for "Byte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "Bitte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Byte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,616,033 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Bitte" and "Byte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bryce vs Byte". 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 #1,616,033 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