Français homophones

paie/paient/paies/paix/pet/pets

"paie" is a noun; "paient" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #20 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "paie" arrives as a noun, while "paient" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "paie" then splits - "paie" (4 letters) vs "paient" (6).
Shared stem "paie" then splits - "paie" (4 letters) vs "paies" (5).
Single-letter fork: "paie" keeps e, "paix" writes x at letter 4.
No shared spelling stem: "paie" is 4 letters, "pet" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paie" is 4 letters, "pets" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "paie" then splits - "paient" (6 letters) vs "paies" (5).
Shared stem "pai" then splits - "paient" (6 letters) vs "paix" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "paient" is 6 letters, "pet" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paient" is 6 letters, "pets" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "pai" then splits - "paies" (5 letters) vs "paix" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "paies" is 5 letters, "pet" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paies" is 5 letters, "pets" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paix" is 4 letters, "pet" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "paix" is 4 letters, "pets" is 4; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "pet" then splits - "pet" (3 letters) vs "pets" (4).

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across paie, paient, paies, paix, pet, pets: p. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

paie
4 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVV
Inventory aeip · private aei
paient
6 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVCC
Inventory aeinpt · private aeint
paies
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVVVC
Inventory aeips · private aeis
paix
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVC
Inventory aipx · private aix
pet
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVC
Inventory ept · private et
pets
4 letters · 1 vowels · shape CVCC
Inventory epst · private est

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "paie" when you mean: Action de payer.
Write "paient" when you mean: Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer.
Write "paies" when you mean: Pluriel de paie.
Write "paix" when you mean: Calme, repos, silence, éloignement du bruit ou des affaires.
Write "pet" when you mean: Vent, gaz qui sort du corps par l’anus avec ou sans bruit.
Write "pets" when you mean: Pluriel de pet.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

paie ← apie · paei · piae · ppaie
paient ← apient · paeint · paiennt · paientt · paietn · painet
paies ← apies · paeis · paiess · paise · piaes · ppaies
paix ← apix · paixx · paxi · piax · ppaix
pets ← epts · pest · petss · petts · ppets · ptes

Each spelling

paie

noun · /\pɛ\/ · #3,345 frequency

Action de payer.

paient

verb · /\pɛ\/ · #9,358 frequency

Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer.

paies

noun · /\pɛ\/ · #19,619 frequency

Pluriel de paie.

paix

noun · /\pɛ\/ · #908 frequency

Calme, repos, silence, éloignement du bruit ou des affaires.

pet

noun · /\pɛ\/ · #12,638 frequency

Vent, gaz qui sort du corps par l’anus avec ou sans bruit.

pets

noun · /\pɛ\/ · #29,078 frequency

Pluriel de pet.