biblevsbillsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“bible” and “bills” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,775
“bible” frequency rank
#2,878
“bills” frequency rank
5653
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bible bills
Definition Alternative letter-case form of Bible (“a specific version, edition, translation, or copy of the Christian religious text”). plural of bill

Where the eye mixes bible and bills

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
bible
5 ch
bills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bible (/ˈbaɪbəl/) and bills (/bɪlz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bible is recorded at frequency rank #2,775, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbaɪbəl/. bills is at rank #2,878, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɪlz/.

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 5653, this pair ranks #514,483 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bible vs bills

Shared letters: bil. Private to "bible": e. Private to "bills": s.

"bible" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "bills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • biblebable · bbible · bbile · bibble · bibel · biblle · bilbe · ibble
  • billsbbills · billss · bils · bilsl · blils · iblls

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bible" and "bills" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈbaɪbəl/ versus /bɪlz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bible" or "bills"?
"bible" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,775 in our English list, against #2,878 for "bills". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list