bienvsbisTell them apart

Which to use

“bien” and “bis” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#58
“bien” frequency rank
#15,023
“bis” frequency rank
15081
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bien bis
Definition Lo que es correcto, lo que es justo, lo que ayuda. Repetición de un espectáculo o actuación.

Where the eye mixes bien and bis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bien
3 ch
bis

Why the eye confuses bien with bis

A purely visual mix-up. bien ([ˈbjẽn]) and bis ([ˈbis]) 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 15081, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bien is recorded at frequency rank #58, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈbjẽn]. bis is at rank #15,023, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈbis].

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 15081, this pair ranks #281,576 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bien vs bis

Shared letters: bi. Private to "bien": en. Private to "bis": s.

"bien" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bienbbien · bein · bienn · bine · iben · vien

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bien" for "bis" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈbjẽn] versus [ˈbis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bien" vs "bis" - which ranks higher?
"bien" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #58 in our Spanish list, against #15,023 for "bis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bien" 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 #281,576 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bien" and "bis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bis vs brie". 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 #281,576 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list