Which to use
“bellies” and “bells” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,292
- “bellies” frequency rank
- #8,243
- “bells” frequency rank
- 40535
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bellies | bells |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of belly | plural of bell |
Where the eye mixes bellies and bells
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. bellies runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against bells's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: bellies vs bells
A purely visual mix-up. bellies (/ˈbɛliz/) and bells (/bɛlz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40535, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bellies is recorded at frequency rank #32,292, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɛliz/. bells is at rank #8,243, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɛlz/.
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 40535, this pair ranks #266,674 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bellies vs bells
Shared letters: bels. Private to "bellies": i. Private to "bells": -.
"bellies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "bells" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bellies" for "bells" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bellies" vs "bells" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "bellies" and "bells" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "bellies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bells" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,674 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bellies" and "bells" 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 #266,674 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.