Which to use
“pace” and “phase” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,730
- “pace” frequency rank
- #1,783
- “phase” frequency rank
- 32513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pace | phase |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pas. | États successifs par lesquels passent certains phénomènes de la vie, de l’histoire. |
Where the eye mixes pace and phase
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pace and phase
A purely visual mix-up. pace (\peɪs\) and phase (\fɑz\) 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 32513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pace is recorded at frequency rank #30,730, classified as anoun, pronounced \peɪs\. phase is at rank #1,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɑz\.
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 32513, this pair ranks #296,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pace vs phase
Shared letters: aep. Private to "pace": c. Private to "phase": hs.
"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "phase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pace" and "phase" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pace" or "phase" show up more?
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 "pace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "phase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pace" and "phase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pace vs parl". 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 #296,774 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.