Which to use
“paid” and “pass” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #792
- “paid” frequency rank
- #952
- “pass” frequency rank
- 1744
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paid | pass |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pay | To change place. |
Where the eye mixes paid and pass
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. paid (/peɪd/) and pass (/pɑːs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paid is recorded at frequency rank #792, classified as averb, pronounced /peɪd/. pass is at rank #952, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɑːs/.
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 1744, this pair ranks #526,760 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paid vs pass
Shared letters: ap. Private to "paid": di. Private to "pass": s.
"paid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pass" · 4 letters · shape CVCC