Which to use
“pains” and “paire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,919
- “pains” frequency rank
- #3,630
- “paire” frequency rank
- 14549
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pains | paire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pain. | Deux choses de même espèce, qui vont nécessairement ou ordinairement ensemble. |
Where the eye mixes pains and paire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pains (CVVCC) and paire (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses pains with paire
A purely visual mix-up. pains (\pɛ̃\) and paire (\pɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14549, 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\. paire is at rank #3,630, 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 14549, this pair ranks #396,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pains vs paire
Shared letters: aip. Private to "pains": ns. Private to "paire": er.
"pains" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "paire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pains" for "paire" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pains" vs "paire" - 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 "pains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pains" and "paire" 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 #396,192 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.