PagnyvsPéguyConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#31,641
“Pagny” frequency rank
#35,227
“Péguy” frequency rank
66868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pagny Péguy
Definition Nom de famille. Nom de famille attesté en France ^([Ins]), surtout connu pour Charles Péguy (1873-1914), écrivain français.

Where the eye mixes Pagny and Péguy

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Pagny (CVCCV) and Péguy (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
Pagny
5 ch
Péguy

Why the eye confuses Pagny with Péguy

A purely visual mix-up. Pagny (\pa.ɲi\) and Péguy (\pe.ɡi\) 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 66868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pagny is recorded at frequency rank #31,641, classified as aname, pronounced \pa.ɲi\. Péguy is at rank #35,227, tagged as aname, pronounced \pe.ɡi\.

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 66868, this pair ranks #65,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Pagny vs Péguy

Shared letters: gpy. Private to "Pagny": an. Private to "Péguy": ué.

"Pagny" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "Péguy" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pagny ← apgny · paggny · pagnny · pagnyy · pagyn · pangy · pgany · ppagny

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Pagny" for "Péguy" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ɲi\ versus \pe.ɡi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Pagny" or "Péguy"?
"Pagny" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,641 in our French list, against #35,227 for "Péguy". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pagny" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Péguy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pagny" and "Péguy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pègre vs Péguy". 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 #65,937 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