Which to use
“passés” and “pavées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,556
- “passés” frequency rank
- #41,952
- “pavées” frequency rank
- 45508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passés | pavées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de passé. | Féminin pluriel de pavé. |
Where the eye mixes passés and pavées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. passés (CVCCVC) and pavées (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses passés with pavées
A purely visual mix-up. passés (\pa.se\) and pavées (\pa.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passés is recorded at frequency rank #3,556, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.se\. pavées is at rank #41,952, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.ve\.
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 45508, this pair ranks #202,229 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passés vs pavées
Shared letters: apsé. Private to "passés": -. Private to "pavées": ev.
"passés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passés" and "pavées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "passés" vs "pavées" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "passés" and "pavées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pavées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,229 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passés" and "pavées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs pavées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #202,229 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.