pavésvspayéesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pavés” and “payées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,754
“pavés” frequency rank
#12,016
“payées” frequency rank
26770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pavés payées
Definition Masculin pluriel de pavé. Féminin pluriel de payé.

Where the eye mixes pavés and payées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
pavés
6 ch
payées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pavés (\pa.ve\) and payées (\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 26770, 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\. payées is at rank #12,016, 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 26770, this pair ranks #332,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pavés vs payées

Shared letters: apsé. Private to "pavés": v. Private to "payées": ey.

"pavés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "payées" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pavés" and "payées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ve\ versus \pɛ.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pavés" or "payées"?
"payées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,016 in our French list, against #14,754 for "pavés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "pavés" and "payées". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pavés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "payées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #332,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pavés" and "payées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavés vs pètes". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list