partvspaysWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,041
“part” frequency rank
#42,064
“pays” frequency rank
52105
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature part pays
Definition Parte. País.

Where the eye mixes part and pays

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
part
4 ch
pays

Visual trap between part and pays

A purely visual mix-up. part (/pɑːt/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

part is recorded at frequency rank #10,041, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːt/. 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 52105, this pair ranks #94,358 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of part vs pays

Shared letters: ap. Private to "part": rt. Private to "pays": sy.

"part" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pays" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partaprt · parrt · partt · patr · ppart
  • paysapys · pasy · payss · payys · ppays · pyas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "part" and "pays" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɑːt/ versus /pɛi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "part" or "pays" show up more?
"part" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,041 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "part" 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 #94,358 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "part" 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 #94,358 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