paixvsparWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paix is a noun, par is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paix” is a noun and “par” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#908
“paix” frequency rank
#28
“par” frequency rank
936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paix par
Definition Calme, repos, silence, éloignement du bruit ou des affaires. Sert à marquer le mouvement et le passage.

Where the eye mixes paix and par

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
paix
3 ch
par

Visual trap between paix and par

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paix is \pɛ\ while par is \paʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paix is recorded at frequency rank #908, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ\. par is at rank #28, tagged as aprep, pronounced \paʁ\.

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 936, this pair ranks #438,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paix vs par

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paix": ix. Private to "par": r.

"paix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "par" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paixapix · paixx · paxi · piax · ppaix

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paix" and "par" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paix" is a noun and "par" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "paix" or "par" show up more?
"par" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28 in our French list, against #908 for "paix". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paix" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "par" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #438,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paix" and "par" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paix vs pio". 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 #438,889 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list