Which to use
“pare” and “payed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,620
- “pare” frequency rank
- #30,911
- “payed” frequency rank
- 68531
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pare | payed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To remove the outer covering or skin of something with a cutting device, typically a knife. | Obsolete spelling of paid. |
Letter map: pare vs payed
Shared letters muted; letters that set pare and payed apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: pare and payed
pare and payed are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pare is recorded at frequency rank #37,620, classified as averb, pronounced /pɛə/. payed is at rank #30,911, tagged as averb.
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 68531, this pair ranks #58,492 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pare vs payed
Shared letters: aep. Private to "pare": r. Private to "payed": dy.
"pare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "payed" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pare" for "payed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pare" vs "payed" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pare" and "payed".
- Full dictionary entry for "pare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,492 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pare" and "payed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pare vs Pyke". 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 #58,492 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.