pay attention
"pay-attention" is a 12-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pay attention” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 13
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To attend; to be attentive; to focus one's attention.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pay-attention · pay attention · English
pay attention · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 13 letters
- VOW-6 6 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pay attention |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 13 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “pay attention” in English
Rare enough to double-check
pay attention is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "To attend; to be attentive; to focus one's attention.".
The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for pay attention, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is pay attention, spelled P-A-Y- -A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N.
Definition
- 1To attend; to be attentive; to focus one's attention.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pay attention appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Please pay attention to the danger signs.
I was on my way to the door, but all at once, through the fog in my head, I began to sight one reef that I hadn't paid any attention to afore.
Synonyms
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.