Which to use
“park” and “pay” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,173
- “park” frequency rank
- #18,553
- “pay” frequency rank
- 22726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | park | pay |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de parken. | Payer, verser une somme pour régler un dû. |
Where the eye mixes park and pay
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between park and pay
A purely visual mix-up. park (\paʁk\) and pay (\peɪ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
park is recorded at frequency rank #4,173, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁk\. pay is at rank #18,553, tagged as averb, pronounced \peɪ\.
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 22726, this pair ranks #356,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of park vs pay
Shared letters: ap. Private to "park": kr. Private to "pay": y.
"park" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pay" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- park ← aprk · pakr · parkk · parrk · ppark · prak
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "park" for "pay" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "park" or "pay" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "park" and "pay" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "park" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pay" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "park" and "pay" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pay 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 #356,479 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.