Which to use
“paies” and “plie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,619
- “paies” frequency rank
- #17,520
- “plie” frequency rank
- 37139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paies | plie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de paie. | Poisson plat osseux surtout marin. |
Where the eye mixes paies and plie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. paies runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against plie's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: paies vs plie
A purely visual mix-up. paies (\pɛ\) and plie (\pli\) 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 37139, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paies is recorded at frequency rank #19,619, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ\. plie is at rank #17,520, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pli\.
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 37139, this pair ranks #264,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paies vs plie
Shared letters: eip. Private to "paies": as. Private to "plie": l.
"paies" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "plie" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paies" for "plie" ever safe?
Frequency check: "paies" vs "plie" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "paies" and "plie" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paies" and "plie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paies vs Pamiers". 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 #264,609 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.