Which to use
“paces” is a noun and “pales” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,348
- “paces” frequency rank
- #40,379
- “pales” frequency rank
- 63727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paces | pales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of pace | third-person singular simple present indicative of pale |
Where the eye mixes paces and pales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paces and pales follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses paces with pales
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is /ˈpeɪsɪz/ while pales is /peɪlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “paces” becomes l in “pales”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paces is recorded at frequency rank #23,348, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪsɪz/. pales is at rank #40,379, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪlz/.
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 63727, this pair ranks #81,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paces vs pales
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "paces": c. Private to "pales": l.
"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pales" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paces" and "pales" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "paces" or "pales"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paces" and "pales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pales vs Pallas". 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 #81,392 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.