Which to use
“paie” is a noun and “paru” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,345
- “paie” frequency rank
- #3,280
- “paru” frequency rank
- 6625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paie | paru |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de payer. | Participe passé masculin singulier de paraître (ou paraitre). |
Where the eye mixes paie and paru
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. paie (CVVV) and paru (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses paie with paru
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paie is \pɛ\ while paru is \pa.ʁy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paie is recorded at frequency rank #3,345, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ\. paru is at rank #3,280, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.ʁy\.
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 6625, this pair ranks #425,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paie vs paru
Shared letters: ap. Private to "paie": ei. Private to "paru": ru.
"paie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "paru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paie" and "paru" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "paie" or "paru" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #425,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paie" and "paru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paie vs priée". 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 #425,717 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.