Which to use
“paid” is a verb and “pat” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #792
- “paid” frequency rank
- #4,785
- “pat” frequency rank
- 5577
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paid | pat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pay | The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep. |
Where the eye mixes paid and pat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: paid vs pat
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paid is /peɪd/ while pat is /pæt/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5577, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paid is recorded at frequency rank #792, classified as averb, pronounced /peɪd/. pat is at rank #4,785, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæt/.
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 5577, this pair ranks #514,789 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paid vs pat
Shared letters: ap. Private to "paid": di. Private to "pat": t.
"paid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pat" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paid ← apid · padi · paidd · piad · ppaid
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paid" for "pat" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "paid" or "pat" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #514,789 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paid" and "pat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pat vs PPA". 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 #514,789 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.