Which to use
“paces” is a verb and “payen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,583
- “paces” frequency rank
- #45,222
- “payen” frequency rank
- 88805
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paces | payen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier (tú) du présent de l’indicatif de pacer. | Traverse de la roue à potier, sur laquelle l’ouvrier appuie ses pieds. |
Where the eye mixes paces and payen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paces (CVCVC) and payen (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between paces and payen
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is \ˈpa.θes\ while payen is \pa.jɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paces is recorded at frequency rank #43,583, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈpa.θes\. payen is at rank #45,222, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.jɛ̃\.
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 88805, this pair ranks #6,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paces vs payen
Shared letters: aep. Private to "paces": cs. Private to "payen": ny.
"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "payen" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paces" and "payen" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "paces" or "payen" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paces" and "payen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palin vs payen". 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 #6,510 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.