Which to use
“past” is a noun and “pays” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #437
- “past” frequency rank
- #4,622
- “pays” frequency rank
- 5059
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | past | pays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future. | third-person singular simple present indicative of pay |
Where the eye mixes past and pays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: past is /pɑːst/ while pays is /peɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
past is recorded at frequency rank #437, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːst/. 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 5059, this pair ranks #516,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of past vs pays
Shared letters: aps. Private to "past": t. Private to "pays": y.
"past" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC