Which to use
“pavé” is a noun and “payez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,549
- “pavé” frequency rank
- #15,204
- “payez” frequency rank
- 25753
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavé | payez |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer. |
Where the eye mixes pavé and payez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pavé and payez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pavé is \pa.ve\ while payez is \pɛ.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25753, 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\. payez is at rank #15,204, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛ.je\.
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 25753, this pair ranks #339,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavé vs payez
Shared letters: ap. Private to "pavé": vé. Private to "payez": eyz.
"pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "payez" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- payez ← apyez · paeyz · payezz · payyez · payze · ppayez · pyaez
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavé" and "payez" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pavé" or "payez" show up more?
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 "pavé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #339,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavé" and "payez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payez vs Prez". 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 #339,045 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.