Which to use
“pay” and “plays” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,338
- “pay” frequency rank
- #18,658
- “plays” frequency rank
- 28996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pay | plays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Geld, das man für eine Arbeitsleistung (meist regelmäßig) bekommt | Plural des Substantivs play |
Where the eye mixes pay and plays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pay vs plays
A purely visual mix-up. pay ([peɪ]) and plays ([pleɪs]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pay is recorded at frequency rank #10,338, classified as anoun, pronounced [peɪ]. plays is at rank #18,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pleɪs].
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 28996, this pair ranks #1,774,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pay vs plays
Shared letters: apy. Private to "pay": -. Private to "plays": ls.
"pay" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "plays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plays ← lpays · palys · plasy · playss · playys · pllays · plyas · pplays
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pay" and "plays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "pay" or "plays" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,774,892 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pay" and "plays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plants vs plays". 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 #1,774,892 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.