baillevsbillsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,665
“baille” frequency rank
#38,677
“bills” frequency rank
77342
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature baille bills
Definition Demi-futaille à un seul fond, en forme de baquet, qui sert à divers usages. Pluriel de bill.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set baille and bills apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
baille
5 ch
bills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. baille (\baj\) and bills (\bil\) 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 77342, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

baille is recorded at frequency rank #38,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \baj\. bills is at rank #38,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bil\.

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 77342, this pair ranks #28,651 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of baille vs bills

Shared letters: bil. Private to "baille": ae. Private to "bills": s.

"baille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "bills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bailleabille · baile · bailel · balile · bbaille · bialle
  • billsbbills · billss · bils · bilsl · blils · iblls

Frequency comparison

baille#38,665
bills#38,677

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "baille" and "bills" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\baj\ versus \bil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "baille" or "bills"?
"baille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,665 in our French list, against #38,677 for "bills". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering baille vs bills

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “baille” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list