Which to use
“pavement” and “payment” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,824
- “pavement” frequency rank
- #2,225
- “payment” frequency rank
- 15049
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavement | payment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A paved surface; a hard covering on the ground. | The act of paying. |
Where the eye mixes pavement and payment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pavement with payment
A purely visual mix-up. pavement (/ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/) and payment (/ˈpeɪmənt/) 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 15049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pavement is recorded at frequency rank #12,824, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪvm(ə)nt/. payment is at rank #2,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪmənt/.
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 15049, this pair ranks #466,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavement vs payment
Shared letters: aemnpt. Private to "pavement": v. Private to "payment": y.
"pavement" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC · "payment" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pavement" for "payment" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pavement" or "payment"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #466,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavement" and "payment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavement vs pavements". 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 #466,357 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.