padvspigConfusable pair

Which to use

“pad” and “pig” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,425
“pad” frequency rank
#43,600
“pig” frequency rank
69025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pad pig
Definition Serviette hygiénique. Sanglier, n’importe quelle espèce appartenant au genre Sus.

Where the eye mixes pad and pig

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
pad
3 ch
pig

Visual trap between pad and pig

A purely visual mix-up. pad (\pad\) and pig (\pɪɡ\) 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 69025, 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\. pig is at rank #43,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɪɡ\.

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 69025, this pair ranks #56,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pad vs pig

Shared letters: p. Private to "pad": ad. Private to "pig": gi.

"pad" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pig" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pad" for "pig" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pad\ versus \pɪɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pad" or "pig"?
"pad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,425 in our French list, against #43,600 for "pig". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pad" and "pig" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pig" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,782 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pad" and "pig" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pig vs pio". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,782 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list