billy
[ˈbɪli]
The verdict
“billy” is a regularly-used German word, ranked #8,842 in German word frequency and used as a noun.
- #8,842
- frequency rank, German
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - der Behälter zum Gebrauch über dem Lagerfeuer
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | billy |
| Language | German |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | [ˈbɪli] |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,842 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “billy” sits in German frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The German entry for billy is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈbɪli]. Corpus data places it at rank #8,842 in overall German word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for billy, with forms such as "bbilly", "billyy", and "bily". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "bull", "boll", "Bulle", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct German form is billy, spelled B-I-L-L-Y.
Definition
- 1der Behälter zum Gebrauch über dem Lagerfeuer
- 2der Stock zum Gebrauch als Waffe
- 3die männliche Ziege
Synonyms
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: bbilly,billyy,bily,bilyl,blily,iblly
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of billy - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "billy"?
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Using “billy”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct German spelling is B-I-L-L-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [ˈbɪli] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “bull” - see the side-by-side comparison. billy vs bull
- Browse more German words and confusable pairs in the same reference. German words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.