pavé

\pa.ve\

/\pa.ve\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pavé” has 6 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #10,549. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#10,549
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Bloc, généralement cubique et fait de pierre dure (basalte, granit, grès, porphyre…), spécialement taillé pour confectionner une chaussée de route, de rue, ou d’un sol quelconque.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pave · pavé · French

pavé · rank #10,549 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #10,549
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH passionnant

Nearest frequency peer: passionnant (-1 rank slots)

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.

Frequency neighbourhood for “pavé”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “pavé” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pavé vs PV
0% similar
pavé vs pe
25% similar
pavé vs pré
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pavé
PropertyValue
Headwordpavé
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pa.ve\
Letters4
Frequency rank#10,549
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “pavé” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). pavé lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around pavé (IPA \pa.ve\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #10,549 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for pavé, with forms such as "apvé", "pave", and "pavvé". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "PV", "pe", "pré", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is pavé, spelled P-A-V-É.

Definition

  1. 1
    Bloc, généralement cubique et fait de pierre dure (basalte, granit, grès, porphyre…), spécialement taillé pour confectionner une chaussée de route, de rue, ou d’un sol quelconque.
  2. 2
    L’ensemble des blocs de pierre qui couvrent une surface, une rue, une route ; la rue ou la chaussée elle-même.
  3. 3
    La rue.
  4. 4
    Synonyme de parallélépipède.
  5. 5
    Gros morceau de viande ou de poisson.
  6. 6
    Pâtisserie (gâteau, pain d’épice, quatre-quarts…) en forme de bloc ou de barre.
  7. 7
    Fromage de chèvre en forme de cube ou de pyramide.
  8. 8
    Texte, écrits ou livre qui est trop long, trop lourd, maladroitement rédigé ce qui rend le tout ennuyeux et difficile à lire.
  9. 9
    Livre contenant de nombreuses pages.
  10. 10
    Annonce publicitaire insérée dans une page de journal de façon à ce qu’elle soit nettement visible.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pavé appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Çà et là, hors des grandes rues et dans les faubourgs, subsiste le pavé pointu, exécrable, qui blesse les pieds ; ce sont des pierres de toutes formes serrées au hasard.
  2. La rue de Normandie est une de ces vieilles rues à chaussée fendue, où la ville de Paris n’a pas encore mis de bornes-fontaines, et dont le ruisseau noir roule péniblement les eaux ménagères de toutes les maisons, qui s’infiltrent sous les pavés et y produisent cette boue particulière à la ville de Paris.

Synonyms

chausséedallagerue

This word in other languages

cobblestone(English)adoquín(Español)Pflaster(Deutsch)paralelepípedo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • apvé
  • pave
  • pavvé
  • paév
  • ppavé
  • pvaé

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pavé - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

apvé2pave1pavvé1paév2ppavé1pvaé2
Edit distance from "pavé"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pavé"?
"pavé" is spelled P-A-V-É. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.ve\.
What does "pavé" mean?
As a noun, "pavé" means: Bloc, généralement cubique et fait de pierre dure (basalte, granit, grès, porphyre…), spécialement taillé pour confectionner une chaussée de route, de rue, ou d’un sol quelconque.
What words are commonly confused with "pavé"?
"pavé" is commonly confused with "PV", "pe", "pré". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pavé"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pavé" is \pa.ve\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pavé" come from?
"pavé" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pavé", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

nain#10,542Lucy#10,533loue#10,531lier#10,528

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

orale6 variantsjosh6 variantsjobs6 variantsHans6 variants

What to do next

You've looked up "pavé". Here's where to go from here.

  • "pavé" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "PV". View pair
  • 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #10,549 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more French words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list