Which to use
“pause” and “pavé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,730
- “pause” frequency rank
- #10,549
- “pavé” frequency rank
- 13279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pause | pavé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suspension ou interruption momentanée d’une action. | Bloc, généralement cubique et fait de pierre dure (basalte, granit, grès, porphyre…), spécialement taillé pour confectionner une chaussée de route, de rue, ou d’un sol quelconque. |
Where the eye mixes pause and pavé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pause vs pavé
A purely visual mix-up. pause (\poz\) and pavé (\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 13279, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pause is recorded at frequency rank #2,730, classified as anoun, pronounced \poz\. pavé is at rank #10,549, tagged as anoun, 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 13279, this pair ranks #401,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pause vs pavé
Shared letters: ap. Private to "pause": esu. Private to "pavé": vé.
"pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pause ← apuse · pasue · paues · pausse · ppause · puase
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pause" for "pavé" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pause" or "pavé"?
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 "pause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pavé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,675 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pause" and "pavé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parl vs pavé". 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 #401,675 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.