pacesvspanelsConfusable pair

Which to use

“paces” and “panels” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,348
“paces” frequency rank
#6,497
“panels” frequency rank
29845
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paces panels
Definition plural of pace plural of panel

Where the eye mixes paces and panels

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
paces
6 ch
panels

Look-alike desk: paces vs panels

A purely visual mix-up. paces (/ˈpeɪsɪz/) and panels (/ˈpænəlz/) 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 29845, 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/. panels is at rank #6,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpænəlz/.

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 29845, this pair ranks #359,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paces vs panels

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "paces": c. Private to "panels": ln.

"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "panels" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacesapces · pacces · pacess · pacse · paecs · pcaes · ppaces
  • panelsapnels · paenls · panells · panelss · panesl · panles · pannels · pnaels

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paces" and "panels" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpeɪsɪz/ versus /ˈpænəlz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paces" vs "panels" - which ranks higher?
"panels" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,497 in our English list, against #23,348 for "paces". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "panels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #359,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paces" and "panels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paces vs pecs". 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 #359,539 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list