Which to use
“pad” and “paddy” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,425
- “pad” frequency rank
- #35,190
- “paddy” frequency rank
- 60615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pad | paddy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Serviette hygiénique. | Nom donné au riz avec son enveloppe et qui, à la meule, a échappé au décorticage ^([1]). |
Where the eye mixes pad and paddy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pad vs paddy
A purely visual mix-up. pad (\pad\) and paddy (\pa.di\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pad” sits inside “paddy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pad is recorded at frequency rank #25,425, classified as anoun, pronounced \pad\. paddy is at rank #35,190, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.di\.
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 60615, this pair ranks #96,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pad vs paddy
Shared letters: adp. Private to "pad": -. Private to "paddy": y.
"pad" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "paddy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- paddy ← apddy · paddyy · pady · padyd · pdady · ppaddy
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pad" and "paddy" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pad" vs "paddy" - which ranks higher?
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 "pad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paddy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #96,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pad" and "paddy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paddle vs paddy". 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 #96,710 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.