Which to use
“paces” is a noun and “pays” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,348
- “paces” frequency rank
- #4,622
- “pays” frequency rank
- 27970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paces | pays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of pace | third-person singular simple present indicative of pay |
Where the eye mixes paces and pays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between paces and pays
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is /ˈpeɪsɪz/ while pays is /peɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27970, 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/. pays is at rank #4,622, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪz/.
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 27970, this pair ranks #374,727 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paces vs pays
Shared letters: aps. Private to "paces": ce. Private to "pays": y.
"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paces" for "pays" ever safe?
Which is more common, "paces" or "pays"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "paces" and "pays" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,727 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paces" and "pays" 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 #374,727 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.