Which to use
“pavées” and “payée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,952
- “pavées” frequency rank
- #8,902
- “payée” frequency rank
- 50854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavées | payée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de pavé. | Féminin singulier de payé. |
Where the eye mixes pavées and payée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pavées with payée
A purely visual mix-up. pavées (\pa.ve\) and payée (\pɛ.je\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50854, 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\. 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 50854, this pair ranks #159,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pavées vs payée
Shared letters: aepé. Private to "pavées": sv. Private to "payée": y.
"pavées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "payée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavées" and "payée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pavées" vs "payée" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pavées" and "payée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavées" 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 #159,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavées" and "payée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs pavées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #159,419 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.