Which to use
“billes” and “billon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,818
- “billes” frequency rank
- #41,675
- “billon” frequency rank
- 57493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | billes | billon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de bille. | Pièce de bois de sapin équarrie, billot. |
Where the eye mixes billes and billon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. billes and billon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: billes vs billon
A purely visual mix-up. billes (\bij\) and billon (\bi.jɔ̃\) 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 57493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
billes is recorded at frequency rank #15,818, classified as anoun, pronounced \bij\. billon is at rank #41,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bi.jɔ̃\.
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 57493, this pair ranks #114,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of billes vs billon
Shared letters: bil. Private to "billes": es. Private to "billon": no.
"billes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "billon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "billes" for "billon" ever safe?
Frequency check: "billes" vs "billon" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "billes" and "billon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "billes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "billon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "billes" and "billon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "billion vs billon". 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 #114,710 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.