Which to use
“paume” and “pause” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,964
- “paume” frequency rank
- #2,730
- “pause” frequency rank
- 19694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paume | pause |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Face intérieure de la main, entre le poignet et les doigts. | Suspension ou interruption momentanée d’une action. |
Where the eye mixes paume and pause
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between paume and pause
A purely visual mix-up. paume (\pom\) and pause (\poz\) 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 a single letter - m in “paume” becomes s in “pause”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paume is recorded at frequency rank #16,964, classified as anoun, pronounced \pom\. pause is at rank #2,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced \poz\.
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 19694, this pair ranks #371,994 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paume vs pause
Shared letters: aepu. Private to "paume": m. Private to "pause": s.
"paume" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paume" and "pause" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paume" vs "pause" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "paume" and "pause" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "paume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pause" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,994 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paume" and "pause" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paume vs prude". 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 #371,994 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.