Which to use
“pay” is a verb and “plays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,553
- “pay” frequency rank
- #45,787
- “plays” frequency rank
- 64340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pay | plays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Payer, verser une somme pour régler un dû. | Pluriel de play. |
Where the eye mixes pay and plays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pay vs plays
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pay is \peɪ\ while plays is \ˈpleɪz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pay is recorded at frequency rank #18,553, classified as averb, pronounced \peɪ\. plays is at rank #45,787, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈpleɪz\.
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 64340, this pair ranks #77,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pay vs plays
Shared letters: apy. Private to "pay": -. Private to "plays": ls.
"pay" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "plays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plays ← lpays · palys · plasy · playss · playys · pllays · plyas · pplays
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pay" and "plays" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pay" or "plays" 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 "pay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pay" and "plays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plays vs pliés". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #77,528 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.