Pay off or payoff?
pay off is a noun meaning “A payment in full; the state of having been paid in full”; payoff is a noun meaning “Alternative form of pay-off”. pay off is written as two words and payoff as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between pay off and payoff?
| pay off | payoff | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | A payment in full; the state of having been paid in full A reward informalTo bribe, especially to deter oversight | Alternative form of pay-off |
| Example | At the current monthly payment level, it'll take 32 more months to reach pay-off | none recorded |
| Forms | pay-offs | payoffs |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpeɪ.ɒf/ /ˈpeɪ.ɔːf/ | not recorded |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 1.8 times per million words |
Sources: pay off and payoff in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of pay off and payoff
pay off
- 1
A payment in full; the state of having been paid in full
At the current monthly payment level, it'll take 32 more months to reach pay-off
- 2
informalTo bribe, especially to deter oversight
I thought the guards would give us trouble, but apparently he had paid them off
- 3
A reward
What's the pay-off for putting up with her nonsense for ages on end?
- 4
To become worthwhile; to produce a net benefit
Her years of Spanish classes finally paid off when she found herself in Mexico and realized she could communicate with people
- 5
A return on investment
How soon could we realistically expect any pay-off from loading up on shares of that company?
- 6
To pay back; to repay
He paid off the loan three months early
- 7
informalA bribe
The prison break never could have succeeded if it hadn't been for multiple pay-offs to various corrupt officers
- 8
To pay back (repay) the entirety of a loan, thereby effecting the release of a lien on (the thing that was financed)
This contract requires you to pay off the car by 2025
payoff
- 1
Alternative form of pay-off
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, pay off or payoff?
pay off is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; payoff 1.8 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search pay off vs payoff?
“pay off vs payoff” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“payoff vs pay off”, “pay off or payoff”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.