Which to use
“pavées” and “pavés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,952
- “pavées” frequency rank
- #14,754
- “pavés” frequency rank
- 56706
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavées | pavés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de pavé. | Masculin pluriel de pavé. |
Same sound, different letters: pavées vs pavés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. pavées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against pavés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - pavées and pavés
This is the hard kind. pavées and pavés are pronounced identically (\pa.ve\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56706, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pavées is recorded at frequency rank #41,952, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.ve\. pavés is at rank #14,754, 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 56706, this pair ranks #119,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pavées vs pavés
Shared letters: apsvé. Private to "pavées": e. Private to "pavés": -.
"pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "pavés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pavées" for "pavés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pavées" vs "pavés" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "pavées" / "pavés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pavés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavées" and "pavés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs pavées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #119,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.