Which to use
“paiement” is a noun and “patiemment” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,944
- “paiement” frequency rank
- #20,229
- “patiemment” frequency rank
- 23173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paiement | patiemment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui se donne pour acquitter une dette. | Avec patience. |
Where the eye mixes paiement and patiemment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. paiement runs 8 letters (CVVVCVCC) against patiemment's 10 (CVCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between paiement and patiemment
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paiement is \pɛ.mɑ̃\ while patiemment is \pa.sja.mɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paiement is recorded at frequency rank #2,944, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ.mɑ̃\. patiemment is at rank #20,229, tagged as anadv, pronounced \pa.sja.mɑ̃\.
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 23173, this pair ranks #353,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paiement vs patiemment
Shared letters: aeimnpt. Private to "paiement": -. Private to "patiemment": -.
"paiement" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCVCC · "patiemment" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paiement ← apiement · paeiment · paieemnt · paiemennt · paiementt · paiemetn · paiemment · paiemnet
- patiemment ← aptiemment · paitemment · pateimment · patiememnt · patiement · patiemmennt · patiemmentt · patiemmetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paiement" and "patiemment" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "paiement" or "patiemment"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paiement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patiemment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,960 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paiement" and "patiemment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paiement vs parement". 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 #353,960 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.