pavéevspavéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: pavée is a noun, pavées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“pavée” is a noun and “pavées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,525
“pavée” frequency rank
#41,952
“pavées” frequency rank
78477
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pavée pavées
Definition Synonyme de digitale pourpre ou pourprée, Digitalis purpurea, plante de la famille des scrofulariacées. Féminin pluriel de pavé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pavée and pavées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pavée
6 ch
pavées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: pavée 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 1 extra letter(s) - “pavée” sits inside “pavées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pavée is recorded at frequency rank #36,525, 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 78477, this pair ranks #25,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pavée vs pavées

Shared letters: aepvé. Private to "pavée": -. Private to "pavées": s.

"pavée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Frequency comparison

pavée#36,525
pavées#41,952

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pavée" and "pavées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pavée" is a noun and "pavées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "pavée" or "pavées"?
"pavée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,525 in our French list, against #41,952 for "pavées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pavée vs pavées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “pavée”; for an adjective, it's “pavées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pavée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list