Which to use
“paires” and “pavées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,282
- “paires” frequency rank
- #41,952
- “pavées” frequency rank
- 50234
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paires | pavées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de pair. | Féminin pluriel de pavé. |
Where the eye mixes paires and pavées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paires (CVVCVC) and pavées (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between paires and pavées
A purely visual mix-up. paires (\pɛʁ\) and pavées (\pa.ve\) 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 50234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paires is recorded at frequency rank #8,282, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛʁ\. pavées is at rank #41,952, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.ve\.
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 50234, this pair ranks #164,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paires vs pavées
Shared letters: aeps. Private to "paires": ir. Private to "pavées": vé.
"paires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paires ← apires · paiers · pairess · pairres · pairse · paries · piares · ppaires
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paires" and "pavées" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "paires" vs "pavées" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "paires" and "pavées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pavées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paires" and "pavées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs pavées". 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 #164,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.