pacesvsprocèsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paces is a verb, procès is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paces” is a verb and “procès” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,583
“paces” frequency rank
#1,274
“procès” frequency rank
44857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paces procès
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier (tú) du présent de l’indicatif de pacer. Instance, procédure engagée devant un juge et portant sur un différend, un litige opposant deux ou plusieurs parties.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paces and procès apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
paces
6 ch
procès

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paces is \ˈpa.θes\ while procès is \pʁɔ.sɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44857, 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\. procès is at rank #1,274, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.sɛ\.

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 44857, this pair ranks #207,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paces vs procès

Shared letters: cps. Private to "paces": ae. Private to "procès": orè.

"paces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "procès" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pacesapces · pacces · pacess · pacse · paecs · pcaes · ppaces

Frequency comparison

paces#43,583
procès#1,274

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paces" and "procès" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paces" is a verb and "procès" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paces" or "procès"?
"procès" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,274 in our French list, against #43,583 for "paces". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering paces vs procès

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “paces”; for a noun, it's “procès”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paces” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list