Which to use
“pavés” and “payée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,754
- “pavés” frequency rank
- #8,902
- “payée” frequency rank
- 23656
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavés | payée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de pavé. | Féminin singulier de payé. |
Where the eye mixes pavés and payée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pavés (CVCVC) and payée (CVVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses pavés with payée
A purely visual mix-up. pavés (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pavés is recorded at frequency rank #14,754, 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 23656, this pair ranks #351,199 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavés vs payée
Shared letters: apé. Private to "pavés": sv. Private to "payée": ey.
"pavés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "payée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pavés" and "payée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pavés" or "payée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavés" 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 #351,199 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavés" and "payée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavés vs pètes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #351,199 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.