papervsparésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: paper is a noun, parés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paper” is a noun and “parés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,640
“paper” frequency rank
#43,589
“parés” frequency rank
66229
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paper parés
Definition Papier. Masculin pluriel de paré.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paper and parés apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
paper
5 ch
parés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paper is \ˈpeɪ̯.pə(ɹ)\ while parés is \pa.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paper is recorded at frequency rank #22,640, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈpeɪ̯.pə(ɹ)\. parés is at rank #43,589, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.ʁe\.

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 66229, this pair ranks #68,715 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paper vs parés

Shared letters: apr. Private to "paper": e. Private to "parés": .

"paper" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "parés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paperapper · paepr · paperr · papper · papre · ppaer · ppaper

Frequency comparison

paper#22,640
parés#43,589

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paper" and "parés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paper" is a noun and "parés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paper" or "parés"?
"paper" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,640 in our French list, against #43,589 for "parés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering paper vs parés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “paper”; for an adjective, it's “parés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paper” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list