Which to use
“pavée” is a noun and “payée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,525
- “pavée” frequency rank
- #8,902
- “payée” frequency rank
- 45427
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavée | payée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonyme de digitale pourpre ou pourprée, Digitalis purpurea, plante de la famille des scrofulariacées. | Féminin singulier de payé. |
Where the eye mixes pavée and payée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pavée with payée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pavée is \pa.ve\ while payée is \pɛ.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - v in “pavée” becomes y in “payée”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45427, 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\. payée is at rank #8,902, tagged as anadj, 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 45427, this pair ranks #202,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pavée vs payée
Shared letters: aepé. Private to "pavée": v. Private to "payée": y.
"pavée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "payée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pavée" for "payée" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pavée" or "payée"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavée" and "payée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavée vs priée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #202,790 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.