Which to use
“paie” and “pois” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,345
- “paie” frequency rank
- #9,891
- “pois” frequency rank
- 13236
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paie | pois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de payer. | Chacune des graines, de forme ronde, et enfermées dans une cosse verte, d’une espèce de fabacée (légumineuse) papilionacée. |
Where the eye mixes paie and pois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. paie (CVVV) and pois (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between paie and pois
A purely visual mix-up. paie (\pɛ\) and pois (\pwa\) 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 13236, 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\. pois is at rank #9,891, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa\.
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 13236, this pair ranks #401,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paie vs pois
Shared letters: ip. Private to "paie": ae. Private to "pois": os.
"paie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "pois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paie" and "pois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "paie" or "pois" 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 "pois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paie" and "pois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pois". 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 #401,847 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.