paiementvspayementWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,944
“paiement” frequency rank
#33,395
“payement” frequency rank
36339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paiement payement
Definition Ce qui se donne pour acquitter une dette. Variante orthographique de paiement.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paiement and payement apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
paiement
8 ch
payement

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. paiement and payement are pronounced identically (\pɛ.mɑ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - i in “paiement” becomes y in “payement”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36339, 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\. payement is at rank #33,395, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ.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 36339, this pair ranks #270,300 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paiement vs payement

Shared letters: aemnpt. Private to "paiement": i. Private to "payement": y.

"paiement" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCVCC  ·  "payement" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paiementapiement · paeiment · paieemnt · paiemennt · paiementt · paiemetn · paiemment · paiemnet
  • payementapyement · paeyment · payeemnt · payemennt · payementt · payemetn · payemment · payemnet

Frequency comparison

paiement#2,944
payement#33,395

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paiement" and "payement" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pɛ.mɑ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "paiement" or "payement"?
"paiement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,944 in our French list, against #33,395 for "payement". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering paiement vs payement

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paiement” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list