Which to use
“paid” is a verb and “past” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,122
- “paid” frequency rank
- #23,262
- “past” frequency rank
- 67384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paid | past |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs pay | Vergangenheit, Vorleben |
Letter map: paid vs past
Shared letters muted; letters that set paid and past apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. paid (CVVC) and past (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Role in the sentence - paid and past
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: paid is averb and pastanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paid is recorded at frequency rank #44,122, classified as averb, pronounced […]. past is at rank #23,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɑːst].
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 67384, this pair ranks #541,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paid vs past
Shared letters: ap. Private to "paid": di. Private to "past": st.
"paid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paid" and "past" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paid" vs "past" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "paid" and "past". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "paid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "past" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #541,885 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paid" and "past" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paid vs puzzles". 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 #541,885 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.