Which to use
“payable” and “potable” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,020
- “payable” frequency rank
- #35,887
- “potable” frequency rank
- 50907
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payable | potable |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Due to be paid. | Good for drinking without fear of waterborne disease or poisoning. |
Where the eye mixes payable and potable
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between payable and potable
A purely visual mix-up. payable (/ˈpeɪəbl̩/) and potable (/ˈpəʊtəbəl/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payable is recorded at frequency rank #15,020, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpeɪəbl̩/. potable is at rank #35,887, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpəʊtəbəl/.
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 50907, this pair ranks #170,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payable vs potable
Shared letters: abelp. Private to "payable": y. Private to "potable": ot.
"payable" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "potable" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "payable" and "potable" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "payable" or "potable" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "payable" and "potable" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "payable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #170,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payable" and "potable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pliable vs potable". 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 #170,099 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.