Which to use
“passais” and “payais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,456
- “passais” frequency rank
- #43,592
- “payais” frequency rank
- 59048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passais | payais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de passer. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. |
Where the eye mixes passais and payais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passais runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against payais's 6 (CVVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: passais vs payais
A purely visual mix-up. passais (\pa.sɛ\) 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 59048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passais is recorded at frequency rank #15,456, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.sɛ\. 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 59048, this pair ranks #105,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of passais vs payais
Shared letters: aips. Private to "passais": -. Private to "payais": y.
"passais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "payais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passais" for "payais" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "passais" or "payais" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passais" 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 #105,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passais" 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 #105,356 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.