Which to use
“PACS” and “pains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,899
- “PACS” frequency rank
- #10,919
- “pains” frequency rank
- 40818
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | PACS | pains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pacte civil de solidarité. | Pluriel de pain. |
Where the eye mixes PACS and pains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. PACS runs 4 letters (CVCC) against pains's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between PACS and pains
A purely visual mix-up. PACS (\paks\) and pains (\pɛ̃\) 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 40818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
PACS is recorded at frequency rank #29,899, classified as anoun, pronounced \paks\. pains is at rank #10,919, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃\.
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 40818, this pair ranks #237,661 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of PACS vs pains
Shared letters: aps. Private to "PACS": c. Private to "pains": in.
"PACS" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "PACS" for "pains" ever safe?
Which is more common, "PACS" or "pains"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "PACS" and "pains" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "PACS" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,661 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "PACS" and "pains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PACS 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 #237,661 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.