PackvspaysConfusable pair

Which to use

“Pack” and “pays” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,405
“Pack” frequency rank
#41,381
“pays” frequency rank
46786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pack pays
Definition heruntergekommene, (teils kriminelle) Menschen; Gesindel Plural des Substantivs pay

Where the eye mixes Pack and pays

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Pack
4 ch
pays

Look-alike desk: Pack vs pays

A purely visual mix-up. Pack ([pak]) and pays ([peɪz]) 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 46786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pack is recorded at frequency rank #5,405, classified as anoun, pronounced [pak]. pays is at rank #41,381, tagged as anoun, pronounced [peɪz].

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 46786, this pair ranks #1,307,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Pack vs pays

Shared letters: ap. Private to "Pack": ck. Private to "pays": sy.

"Pack" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Packapck · pacck · packk · pakc · pcak · ppack
  • paysapys · pasy · payss · payys · ppays · pyas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Pack" and "pays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([pak] versus [peɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Pack" vs "pays" - which ranks higher?
"Pack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,405 in our German list, against #41,381 for "pays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "Pack" and "pays" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pack" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,307,024 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pack" and "pays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pays vs PMS". 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 #1,307,024 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list