Which to use
“palo” and “pays” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,939
- “palo” frequency rank
- #41,381
- “pays” frequency rank
- 80320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | palo | pays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pfahl, Pfosten, Mast | Plural des Substantivs pay |
Letter map: palo vs pays
Shared letters muted; letters that set palo and pays apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. palo (CVCV) and pays (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Pair insight - palo / pays
palo and pays are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
palo is recorded at frequency rank #38,939, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. 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 80320, this pair ranks #198,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of palo vs pays
Shared letters: ap. Private to "palo": lo. Private to "pays": sy.
"palo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "palo" for "pays" ever safe?
Frequency check: "palo" vs "pays" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "palo" and "pays". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "palo" 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 #198,028 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "palo" 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 #198,028 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.