Which to use
“pavés” and “posés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,754
- “pavés” frequency rank
- #11,460
- “posés” frequency rank
- 26214
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavés | posés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de pavé. | Masculin pluriel de posé. |
Where the eye mixes pavés and posés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pavés and posés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pavés with posés
A purely visual mix-up. pavés (\pa.ve\) and posés (\po.ze\) 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 26214, 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\. posés is at rank #11,460, tagged as anadj, pronounced \po.ze\.
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 26214, this pair ranks #336,437 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pavés vs posés
Shared letters: psé. Private to "pavés": av. Private to "posés": o.
"pavés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "posés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavés" and "posés" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pavés" or "posés" show up more?
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 "pavés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,437 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavés" and "posés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavés vs pètes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #336,437 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.