parosvspaysTell them apart

Which to use

“paros” and “pays” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,151
“paros” frequency rank
#42,064
“pays” frequency rank
62215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paros pays
Definition Forma del plural de paro. País.

Where the eye mixes paros and pays

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paros runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against pays's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
paros
4 ch
pays

Visual trap between paros and pays

A purely visual mix-up. paros ([ˈpaɾos]) and pays (/pɛi/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paros is recorded at frequency rank #20,151, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaɾos]. pays is at rank #42,064, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɛi/.

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 62215, this pair ranks #52,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paros vs pays

Shared letters: aps. Private to "paros": or. Private to "pays": y.

"paros" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paros ← apros · paors · paross · parros · parso · pparos · praos
  • pays ← apys · pasy · payss · payys · ppays · pyas

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paros" and "pays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaɾos] versus /pɛi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paros" vs "pays" - which ranks higher?
"paros" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,151 in our Spanish list, against #42,064 for "pays". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "paros" and "pays" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paros" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paros" and "pays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pa'l vs pays". 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 #52,783 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list