Which to use
“paire” is a noun and “pairs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,630
- “paire” frequency rank
- #9,209
- “pairs” frequency rank
- 12839
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paire | pairs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deux choses de même espèce, qui vont nécessairement ou ordinairement ensemble. | Masculin pluriel de pair. |
Same sound, different letters: paire vs pairs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. paire (CVVCV) and pairs (CVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - paire / pairs
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: paire and pairs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “paire” becomes s in “pairs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paire is recorded at frequency rank #3,630, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ\. pairs is at rank #9,209, tagged as anadj, 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 12839, this pair ranks #403,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paire vs pairs
Shared letters: aipr. Private to "paire": e. Private to "pairs": s.
"paire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pairs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paire" and "pairs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "paire" or "pairs"?
What to do next
"paire" and "pairs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "paire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pairs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #403,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paire" and "pairs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pairs 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 #403,548 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.