Which to use
“belief” and “bellies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,211
- “belief” frequency rank
- #32,292
- “bellies” frequency rank
- 35503
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | belief | bellies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mental acceptance of a claim as true. | plural of belly |
Where the eye mixes belief and bellies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. belief runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against bellies's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: belief vs bellies
A purely visual mix-up. belief (/bɪˈliːf/) and bellies (/ˈbɛliz/) 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 35503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
belief is recorded at frequency rank #3,211, classified as anoun, pronounced /bɪˈliːf/. bellies is at rank #32,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɛliz/.
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 35503, this pair ranks #311,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of belief vs bellies
Shared letters: beil. Private to "belief": f. Private to "bellies": s.
"belief" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "bellies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "belief" for "bellies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "belief" vs "bellies" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "belief" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bellies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,373 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "belief" and "bellies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bellies vs Bellini". 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 #311,373 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.