Which to use
“impairs” and “impayés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,223
- “impairs” frequency rank
- #26,754
- “impayés” frequency rank
- 72977
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | impairs | impayés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de impair. | Masculin pluriel de impayé. |
Where the eye mixes impairs and impayés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. impairs (VCCVVCC) and impayés (VCCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between impairs and impayés
A purely visual mix-up. impairs (\ɛ̃.pɛʁ\) and impayés (\ɛ̃.pe.je\) 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 72977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
impairs is recorded at frequency rank #46,223, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pɛʁ\. impayés is at rank #26,754, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pe.je\.
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 72977, this pair ranks #42,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of impairs vs impayés
Shared letters: aimps. Private to "impairs": r. Private to "impayés": yé.
"impairs" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC · "impayés" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- impairs ← imapirs · immpairs · impairrs · impairss · impaisr · imparis · impiars · imppairs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "impairs" and "impayés" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "impairs" vs "impayés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "impairs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "impayés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,131 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "impairs" and "impayés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "impair vs impairs". 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 #42,131 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.