bisvsbitWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: bis is a preposition, bit is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bis” is a preposition and “bit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,300
“bis” frequency rank
#11,815
“bit” frequency rank
26115
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bis bit
Definition até ver bite

Letter map: bis vs bit

Shared letters muted; letters that set bis and bit apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
bis
3 ch
bit

Part-of-speech tell for bis / bit

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bis is apreposition and bitanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - s in “bis” becomes t in “bit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bis is recorded at frequency rank #14,300, classified as aprep. bit is at rank #11,815, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bit/.

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 26115, this pair ranks #43,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of bis vs bit

Shared letters: bi. Private to "bis": s. Private to "bit": t.

"bis" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "bit" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bis" and "bit" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bis" is a preposition and "bit" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "bis" or "bit" show up more?
"bit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,815 in our Portuguese list, against #14,300 for "bis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "bis" and "bit".

  • Full dictionary entry for "bis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bis" and "bit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bile vs bis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #43,089 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list