pagevspaidWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: page is a noun, paid is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“page” is a noun and “paid” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#791
“page” frequency rank
#792
“paid” frequency rank
1583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature page paid
Definition One of the many pieces of paper bound together within a book or similar document. simple past and past participle of pay

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set page and paid apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
page
4 ch
paid

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

page and paid form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

page is recorded at frequency rank #791, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪd͡ʒ/. paid is at rank #792, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪd/.

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 1583, this pair ranks #527,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

page#791
paid#792

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "page" and "paid" be used interchangeably?
No, "page" and "paid" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering page vs paid

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “page”; for a verb, it's “paid”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “page” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list