pavévspieWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,549
“pavé” frequency rank
#8,596
“pie” frequency rank
19145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pavé pie
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. Passereau de la famille des corvidés à longue queue, à plumage noir et au ventre blanc, renommé pour son bavardage et son attirance envers les objets brillants.

Where the eye mixes pavé and pie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
pavé
3 ch
pie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pavé (\pa.ve\) and pie (\pi\) 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 19145, 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\. pie is at rank #8,596, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi\.

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 19145, this pair ranks #374,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pavé vs pie

Shared letters: p. Private to "pavé": avé. Private to "pie": ei.

"pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "pie" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pavé" and "pie" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ve\ versus \pi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pavé" or "pie"?
"pie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,596 in our French list, against #10,549 for "pavé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "pavé" and "pie". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pavé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pavé" and "pie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parl vs pavé". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list