Which to use
“bait” and “bis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,894
- “bait” frequency rank
- #18,497
- “bis” frequency rank
- 27391
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bait | bis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any substance, especially food, used in catching fish, or other animals, by alluring them to a hook, snare, trap, or net. | plural of bi |
Where the eye mixes bait and bis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: bait vs bis
A purely visual mix-up. bait (/beɪt/) and bis (/baɪz/) 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 27391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bait is recorded at frequency rank #8,894, classified as anoun, pronounced /beɪt/. bis is at rank #18,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /baɪz/.
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 27391, this pair ranks #379,291 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bait vs bis
Shared letters: bi. Private to "bait": at. Private to "bis": s.
"bait" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bait ← abit · baitt · bati · bbait · biat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "bait" and "bis" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "bait" vs "bis" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,291 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bait" and "bis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BFS vs bis". 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 #379,291 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.