Which to use
“payed” is a verb and “player” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,911
- “payed” frequency rank
- #660
- “player” frequency rank
- 31571
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payed | player |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete spelling of paid. | One that plays. |
Letter map: payed vs player
Shared letters muted; letters that set payed and player apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Role in the sentence - payed and player
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: payed is averb and playeranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payed is recorded at frequency rank #30,911, classified as averb. player is at rank #660, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpleɪɚ/.
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 31571, this pair ranks #344,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payed vs player
Shared letters: aepy. Private to "payed": d. Private to "player": lr.
"payed" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "player" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "payed" for "player" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "payed" or "player" show up more?
After this comparison
Pair "payed" vs "player" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "payed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "player" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,984 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payed" and "player" 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 #344,984 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.