Which to use
“pavé” is a noun and “pavées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,549
- “pavé” frequency rank
- #41,952
- “pavées” frequency rank
- 52501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavé | pavées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Féminin pluriel de pavé. |
Same sound, different letters: pavé vs pavées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. pavé runs 4 letters (CVCV) against pavées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: pavé vs pavées
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: pavé and pavées carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pa.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “pavé” sits inside “pavées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pavé is recorded at frequency rank #10,549, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ve\. pavées is at rank #41,952, 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 52501, this pair ranks #147,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pavé vs pavées
Shared letters: apvé. Private to "pavé": -. Private to "pavées": es.
"pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pavé" and "pavées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pavé" or "pavées"?
Useful next steps
"pavé" and "pavées" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pavées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,286 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavé" and "pavées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs pavées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #147,286 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.