Which to use
“pays” is a noun and “pros” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,381
- “pays” frequency rank
- #45,523
- “pros” frequency rank
- 86904
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pays | pros |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plural des Substantivs pay | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs prosit |
Where the eye mixes pays and pros
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pays (CVVC) and pros (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between pays and pros
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pays is [peɪz] while pros is [prɔs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86904, 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]. pros is at rank #45,523, tagged as averb, pronounced [prɔs].
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 86904, this pair ranks #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pays vs pros
Shared letters: ps. Private to "pays": ay. Private to "pros": or.
"pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pros" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pays" and "pros" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "pays" or "pros" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pays" and "pros" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pays" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pros" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pays" and "pros" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PMS vs pros". 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 #87,391 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.