pagervspareWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,567
“pager” frequency rank
#37,620
“pare” frequency rank
83187
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pager pare
Definition A wireless telecommunications device that receives text or voice messages. To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pager and pare apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pager
4 ch
pare

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pager is /peɪd͡ʒə(ɹ)/ while pare is /pɛə/. 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 83187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pager is recorded at frequency rank #45,567, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪd͡ʒə(ɹ)/. pare is at rank #37,620, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɛə/.

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 83187, this pair ranks #14,292 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pager vs pare

Shared letters: aepr. Private to "pager": g. Private to "pare": -.

"pager" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pagerapger · paegr · pagerr · pagger · pagre · pgaer · ppager
  • pareapre · parre · ppare · prae

Frequency comparison

pager#45,567
pare#37,620

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pager" and "pare" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pager" is a noun and "pare" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pager" or "pare"?
"pare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,620 in our English list, against #45,567 for "pager". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pager vs pare

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pager”; for a verb, it's “pare”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pager” 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