Which to use
“pains” and “pair” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,919
- “pains” frequency rank
- #7,212
- “pair” frequency rank
- 18131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pains | pair |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pain. | Personne de même condition et de même rang dans l’état. |
Where the eye mixes pains and pair
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pains with pair
A purely visual mix-up. pains (\pɛ̃\) and pair (\pɛʁ\) 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 18131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pains is recorded at frequency rank #10,919, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃\. pair is at rank #7,212, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ\.
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 18131, this pair ranks #379,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pains vs pair
Shared letters: aip. Private to "pains": ns. Private to "pair": r.
"pains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "pair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pains" and "pair" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pains" vs "pair" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pair" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,847 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pains" and "pair" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pains vs parias". 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 #379,847 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.