Which to use
“paces” and “payer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,583
- “paces” frequency rank
- #808
- “payer” frequency rank
- 44391
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paces | payer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier (tú) du présent de l’indicatif de pacer. | Donner de l’argent pour un bien ou un service. |
Where the eye mixes paces and payer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: paces vs payer
A purely visual mix-up. paces (\ˈpa.θes\) and payer (\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 44391, 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\. payer is at rank #808, tagged as averb, pronounced \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 44391, this pair ranks #210,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paces vs payer
Shared letters: aep. Private to "paces": cs. Private to "payer": ry.
"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "payer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paces" for "payer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "paces" vs "payer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "payer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #210,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paces" and "payer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paces vs palaces". 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 #210,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.