billetvsbillsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,760
“billet” frequency rank
#38,677
“bills” frequency rank
41437
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature billet bills
Definition Petit écrit que l’on adresse à quelqu’un ; petite lettre missive dans laquelle on peut se dispenser des formules de compliments utilisées dans les lettres. Pluriel de bill.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
billet
5 ch
bills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. billet (\bi.jɛ\) 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 41437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

billet is recorded at frequency rank #2,760, classified as anoun, pronounced \bi.jɛ\. 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 41437, this pair ranks #233,103 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of billet vs bills

Shared letters: bil. Private to "billet": et. Private to "bills": s.

"billet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • billetbbillet · bilelt · bilet · billett · billte · blilet · ibllet
  • billsbbills · billss · bils · bilsl · blils · iblls

Frequency comparison

billet#2,760
bills#38,677

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "billet" and "bills" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bi.jɛ\ versus \bil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "billet" or "bills"?
"billet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,760 in our French list, against #38,677 for "bills". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering billet 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 “billet” 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