billevsbillsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,664
“bille” frequency rank
#38,677
“bills” frequency rank
57341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bille bills
Definition Tronc d’arbre brut, simplement débarrassé de ses branches pour être envoyé à la scierie. Pluriel de bill.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
bille
5 ch
bills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bille (\bij\) 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 a single letter - e in “bille” becomes s in “bills”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bille is recorded at frequency rank #18,664, classified as anoun, pronounced \bij\. 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 57341, this pair ranks #115,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bille vs bills

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

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • billebbille · bilel · blile · iblle
  • billsbbills · billss · bils · bilsl · blils · iblls

Frequency comparison

bille#18,664
bills#38,677

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bille" and "bills" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bij\ versus \bil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bille" or "bills"?
"bille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,664 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 bille 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 “bille” 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