Which to use
“pared” and “paused” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,472
- “pared” frequency rank
- #17,689
- “paused” frequency rank
- 57161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pared | paused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pare | simple past and past participle of pause |
Where the eye mixes pared and paused
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pared runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against paused's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pared vs paused
A purely visual mix-up. pared (/pɛəd/) and paused (/pɔːzd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pared is recorded at frequency rank #39,472, classified as averb, pronounced /pɛəd/. paused is at rank #17,689, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɔːzd/.
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 57161, this pair ranks #121,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pared vs paused
Shared letters: adep. Private to "pared": r. Private to "paused": su.
"pared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "paused" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pared" for "paused" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "pared" or "paused" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pared" and "paused" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paused" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #121,191 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pared" and "paused" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pared vs plied". 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 #121,191 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.