Which to use
“pavé” and “pure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,549
- “pavé” frequency rank
- #3,216
- “pure” frequency rank
- 13765
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavé | pure |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | La boisson en elle-même, plutôt fortement alcoolisée qui n’est pas coupé avec une autre plus légère ou sans alcool. |
Where the eye mixes pavé and pure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. pavé and pure follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pavé with pure
A purely visual mix-up. pavé (\pa.ve\) and pure (\pyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13765, 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\. pure is at rank #3,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pyʁ\.
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 13765, this pair ranks #399,635 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavé vs pure
Shared letters: p. Private to "pavé": avé. Private to "pure": eru.
"pavé" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pure ← ppure · prue · purre · upre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pavé" for "pure" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pavé" vs "pure" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,635 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavé" and "pure" 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 #399,635 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.