Which to use
“pain” and “path” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #996
- “pain” frequency rank
- #2,006
- “path” frequency rank
- 3002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pain | path |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An ache or bodily suffering, or an instance of this; an unpleasant sensation, resulting from a derangement of functions, disease, or injury by violence; hurt. | A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians. |
Where the eye mixes pain and path
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. pain (/peɪn/) and path (/pɑːθ/) 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 3002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pain is recorded at frequency rank #996, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪn/. path is at rank #2,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɑːθ/.
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 3002, this pair ranks #523,407 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pain vs path
Shared letters: ap. Private to "pain": in. Private to "path": ht.
"pain" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC