Which to use
“payment” and “pigment” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,225
- “payment” frequency rank
- #17,921
- “pigment” frequency rank
- 20146
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payment | pigment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of paying. | Any color in plant or animal cells. |
Where the eye mixes payment and pigment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. payment (CVVCVCC) and pigment (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: payment vs pigment
A purely visual mix-up. payment (/ˈpeɪmənt/) and pigment (/ˈpɪɡ.mənt/) 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 20146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payment is recorded at frequency rank #2,225, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpeɪmənt/. pigment is at rank #17,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɪɡ.mənt/.
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 20146, this pair ranks #433,188 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of payment vs pigment
Shared letters: emnpt. Private to "payment": ay. Private to "pigment": gi.
"payment" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "pigment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "payment" and "pigment" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "payment" vs "pigment" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "payment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pigment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,188 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payment" and "pigment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piglet vs pigment". 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 #433,188 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.