paysvspeaksWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pays is a noun, peaks is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pays” is a noun and “peaks” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,381
“pays” frequency rank
#46,906
“peaks” frequency rank
88287
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pays peaks
Definition Plural des Substantivs pay 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs peak

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pays and peaks apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
pays
5 ch
peaks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pays is anoun and peaksaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pays is recorded at frequency rank #41,381, classified as anoun, pronounced [peɪz]. peaks is at rank #46,906, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 88287, this pair ranks #70,136 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pays vs peaks

Shared letters: aps. Private to "pays": y. Private to "peaks": ek.

"pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "peaks" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paysapys · pasy · payss · payys · ppays · pyas
  • peaksepaks · paeks · peakks · peakss · peask · pekas · ppeaks

Frequency comparison

pays#41,381
peaks#46,906

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pays" and "peaks" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pays" is a noun and "peaks" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pays" or "peaks"?
"pays" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,381 in our German list, against #46,906 for "peaks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pays vs peaks

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pays”; for a verb, it's “peaks”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pays” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list