pauméevspsaumesConfusable pair

Which to use

“paumée” and “psaumes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,471
“paumée” frequency rank
#23,324
“psaumes” frequency rank
60795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paumée psaumes
Definition Engagement conclu par des contractants qui se frappent la paume de la main. Pluriel de psaume.

Where the eye mixes paumée and psaumes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. paumée runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against psaumes's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
paumée
7 ch
psaumes

Look-alike desk: paumée vs psaumes

A purely visual mix-up. paumée (\po.me\) and psaumes (\psom\) 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 60795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paumée is recorded at frequency rank #37,471, classified as anoun, pronounced \po.me\. psaumes is at rank #23,324, tagged as anoun, pronounced \psom\.

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 60795, this pair ranks #95,715 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paumée vs psaumes

Shared letters: aempu. Private to "paumée": é. Private to "psaumes": s.

"paumée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "psaumes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • psaumes ← pasumes · ppsaumes · psamues · psauems · psaumess · psaummes · psaumse · pssaumes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paumée" for "psaumes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\po.me\ versus \psom\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "paumée" vs "psaumes" - which ranks higher?
"psaumes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,324 in our French list, against #37,471 for "paumée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paumée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "psaumes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,715 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paumée" and "psaumes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paumée vs primée". 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 #95,715 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list