Which to use
“payed” and “pled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,911
- “payed” frequency rank
- #40,395
- “pled” frequency rank
- 71306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payed | pled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete spelling of paid. | simple past and past participle of plead |
Letter map: payed vs pled
Shared letters muted; letters that set payed and pled apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Spelling & dictionary notes on payed vs pled
payed and pled are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payed is recorded at frequency rank #30,911, classified as averb. pled is at rank #40,395, tagged as averb, pronounced /plɛd/.
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 71306, this pair ranks #47,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of payed vs pled
Shared letters: dep. Private to "payed": ay. Private to "pled": l.
"payed" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "pled" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "payed" for "pled" ever safe?
Frequency check: "payed" vs "pled" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "payed" and "pled". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "payed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payed" and "pled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pled 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 #47,254 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.