paumésvspavésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,447
“paumés” frequency rank
#14,754
“pavés” frequency rank
54201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paumés pavés
Definition Masculin pluriel de paumé. Masculin pluriel de pavé.

Where the eye mixes paumés and pavés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. paumés runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against pavés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
paumés
5 ch
pavés

Visual trap between paumés and pavés

A purely visual mix-up. paumés (\po.me\) and pavés (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paumés is recorded at frequency rank #39,447, classified as anadj, pronounced \po.me\. pavés is at rank #14,754, 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 54201, this pair ranks #135,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paumés vs pavés

Shared letters: apsé. Private to "paumés": mu. Private to "pavés": v.

"paumés" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "pavés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paumés" and "pavés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\po.me\ versus \pa.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paumés" or "pavés"?
"pavés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,754 in our French list, against #39,447 for "paumés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "paumés" and "pavés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paumés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pavés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paumés" and "pavés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs paumés". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #135,563 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