Which to use
“paie” and “patte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,345
- “paie” frequency rank
- #10,206
- “patte” frequency rank
- 13551
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paie | patte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de payer. | Membre d’un animal quadrupède, d’un oiseau (à l’exception des oiseaux de proie), des arthropodes comme l’écrevisse, le homard, l’araignée, la mouche, etc. |
Where the eye mixes paie and patte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paie runs 4 letters (CVVV) against patte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses paie with patte
A purely visual mix-up. paie (\pɛ\) and patte (\pat\) 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 13551, 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\. patte is at rank #10,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pat\.
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 13551, this pair ranks #400,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paie vs patte
Shared letters: aep. Private to "paie": i. Private to "patte": t.
"paie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "patte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paie" and "patte" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "paie" or "patte"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "paie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,533 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paie" and "patte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs patte". 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 #400,533 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.