Which to use
“paced” and “pare” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,779
- “paced” frequency rank
- #37,620
- “pare” frequency rank
- 51399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paced | pare |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pace | To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife. |
Where the eye mixes paced and pare
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paced runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against pare's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses paced with pare
A purely visual mix-up. paced (/peɪst/) and pare (/pɛə/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paced is recorded at frequency rank #13,779, classified as averb, pronounced /peɪst/. pare is at rank #37,620, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɛə/.
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 51399, this pair ranks #165,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paced vs pare
Shared letters: aep. Private to "paced": cd. Private to "pare": r.
"paced" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paced" and "pare" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "paced" or "pare"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pare" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,818 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paced" and "pare" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pare vs Pyke". 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 #165,818 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.