Which to use
“paient” and “parlent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,358
- “paient” frequency rank
- #2,007
- “parlent” frequency rank
- 11365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paient | parlent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de parler. |
Where the eye mixes paient and parlent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. paient runs 6 letters (CVVVCC) against parlent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: paient vs parlent
A purely visual mix-up. paient (\pɛ\) and parlent (\paʁl\) 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 11365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paient is recorded at frequency rank #9,358, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ\. parlent is at rank #2,007, tagged as averb, pronounced \paʁl\.
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 11365, this pair ranks #409,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paient vs parlent
Shared letters: aenpt. Private to "paient": i. Private to "parlent": lr.
"paient" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC · "parlent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paient" for "parlent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "paient" vs "parlent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "paient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "parlent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paient" and "parlent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paient vs payen". 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 #409,426 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.