Which to use
“paid” and “pays” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #792
- “paid” frequency rank
- #4,622
- “pays” frequency rank
- 5414
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paid | pays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pay | third-person singular simple present indicative of pay |
Where the eye mixes paid and pays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. paid (/peɪd/) and pays (/peɪz/) 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 5414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paid is recorded at frequency rank #792, classified as averb, pronounced /peɪd/. pays is at rank #4,622, tagged as averb, pronounced /peɪz/.
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 5414, this pair ranks #515,420 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paid vs pays
Shared letters: ap. Private to "paid": di. Private to "pays": sy.
"paid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC