Which to use
“bats” and “bis” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,286
- “bats” frequency rank
- #18,497
- “bis” frequency rank
- 27783
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bats | bis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of bat | plural of bi |
Where the eye mixes bats and bis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bats with bis
A purely visual mix-up. bats (/bæts/) 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 27783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bats is recorded at frequency rank #9,286, classified as anoun, pronounced /bæts/. 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 27783, this pair ranks #376,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bats vs bis
Shared letters: bs. Private to "bats": at. Private to "bis": i.
"bats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- bats ← abts · batss · batts · bbats · btas
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bats" and "bis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bats" or "bis"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "bats" and "bis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bats" 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 #376,153 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bats" 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 #376,153 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.