Which to use
“pause” and “paye” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,730
- “pause” frequency rank
- #3,028
- “paye” frequency rank
- 5758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pause | paye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Suspension ou interruption momentanée d’une action. | Salaire ou rémunération d’un travail. |
Where the eye mixes pause and paye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pause and paye
A purely visual mix-up. pause (\poz\) and paye (\pɛj\) 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 5758, 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\. paye is at rank #3,028, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛj\.
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 5758, this pair ranks #428,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pause vs paye
Shared letters: aep. Private to "pause": su. Private to "paye": y.
"pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "paye" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pause" for "paye" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pause" or "paye"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pause" and "paye" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pause" and "paye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pause 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 #428,146 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.