Which to use
“page” is a noun and “pay” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #791
- “page” frequency rank
- #390
- “pay” frequency rank
- 1181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | page | pay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One of the many pieces of paper bound together within a book or similar document. | To give money or other compensation to in exchange for goods or services. |
Where the eye mixes page and pay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: page is /peɪd͡ʒ/ while pay is /peɪ/. 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 1181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
page is recorded at frequency rank #791, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪd͡ʒ/. pay is at rank #390, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪ/.
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 1181, this pair ranks #527,933 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of page vs pay
Shared letters: ap. Private to "page": eg. Private to "pay": y.
"page" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pay" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- page ← apge · paeg · pagge · pgae · ppage