Which to use
“payed” is a verb and “pied” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,911
- “payed” frequency rank
- #28,328
- “pied” frequency rank
- 59239
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payed | pied |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete spelling of paid. | Having two or more colors, especially black and white. |
Letter map: payed vs pied
Shared letters muted; letters that set payed and pied apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Role in the sentence - payed and pied
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: payed is averb and piedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payed is recorded at frequency rank #30,911, classified as averb. pied is at rank #28,328, tagged as anadj, pronounced /paɪd/.
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 59239, this pair ranks #107,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of payed vs pied
Shared letters: dep. Private to "payed": ay. Private to "pied": i.
"payed" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "pied" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "payed" for "pied" ever safe?
Frequency check: "payed" vs "pied" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "payed" and "pied".
- Full dictionary entry for "payed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pied" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payed" and "pied" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payed 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 #107,461 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.