Which to use
“pavé” is a noun and “pire” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,549
- “pavé” frequency rank
- #659
- “pire” frequency rank
- 11208
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavé | pire |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Comparatif de mauvais. Plus mauvais, plus défectueux, plus nuisible. |
Where the eye mixes pavé and pire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pavé with pire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pavé is \pa.ve\ while pire is \piʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11208, 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\. pire is at rank #659, tagged as anadj, pronounced \piʁ\.
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 11208, this pair ranks #410,030 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavé vs pire
Shared letters: p. Private to "pavé": avé. Private to "pire": eir.
"pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pire" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pire ← ipre · pirre · ppire · prie
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavé" and "pire" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pavé" vs "pire" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pavé" and "pire" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,030 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavé" and "pire" 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 #410,030 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.