billsvsbullsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,677
“bills” frequency rank
#21,557
“bulls” frequency rank
60234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bills bulls
Definition Pluriel de bill. Pluriel de bull.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
bills
5 ch
bulls

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. bills (\bil\) and bulls (\byl\) 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 - i in “bills” becomes u in “bulls”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bills is recorded at frequency rank #38,677, classified as anoun, pronounced \bil\. bulls is at rank #21,557, tagged as anoun, pronounced \byl\.

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 60234, this pair ranks #98,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bills vs bulls

Shared letters: bls. Private to "bills": i. Private to "bulls": u.

"bills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "bulls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • billsbbills · billss · bils · bilsl · blils · iblls
  • bullsbbulls · bluls · bullss · buls · bulsl · ublls

Frequency comparison

bills#38,677
bulls#21,557

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bills" and "bulls" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\bil\ versus \byl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "bills" or "bulls"?
"bulls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,557 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 bills vs bulls

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 “bills” 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