Which to use
“parlais” and “payais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,596
- “parlais” frequency rank
- #43,592
- “payais” frequency rank
- 48188
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parlais | payais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de parler. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. |
Where the eye mixes parlais and payais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between parlais and payais
A purely visual mix-up. parlais (\paʁ.lɛ\) and payais (\pɛ.jɛ\) 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 48188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parlais is recorded at frequency rank #4,596, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.lɛ\. payais is at rank #43,592, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛ.jɛ\.
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 48188, this pair ranks #180,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of parlais vs payais
Shared letters: aips. Private to "parlais": lr. Private to "payais": y.
"parlais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "payais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parlais" and "payais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "parlais" vs "payais" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "parlais" and "payais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "parlais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,919 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parlais" and "payais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payaient vs payais". 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 #180,919 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.