Which to use
“passées” and “payées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,057
- “passées” frequency rank
- #12,016
- “payées” frequency rank
- 17073
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passées | payées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de passé. | Féminin pluriel de payé. |
Where the eye mixes passées and payées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. passées runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against payées's 6 (CVVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: passées vs payées
A purely visual mix-up. passées (\pa.se\) and payées (\pɛ.je\) 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 17073, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passées is recorded at frequency rank #5,057, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.se\. payées is at rank #12,016, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɛ.je\.
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 17073, this pair ranks #384,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passées vs payées
Shared letters: aepsé. Private to "passées": -. Private to "payées": y.
"passées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "payées" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passées" for "payées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "passées" or "payées" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "passées" and "payées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passées" and "payées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs payées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #384,928 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.