Which to use
“payaient” and “posaient” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,070
- “payaient” frequency rank
- #33,408
- “posaient” frequency rank
- 62478
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payaient | posaient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de poser. |
Where the eye mixes payaient and posaient
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. payaient (CVVVVVCC) and posaient (CVCVVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: payaient vs posaient
A purely visual mix-up. payaient (\pɛ.jɛ\) and posaient (\po.zɛ\) 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 62478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payaient is recorded at frequency rank #29,070, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ.jɛ\. posaient is at rank #33,408, tagged as averb, pronounced \po.zɛ\.
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 62478, this pair ranks #86,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of payaient vs posaient
Shared letters: aeinpt. Private to "payaient": y. Private to "posaient": os.
"payaient" · 8 letters · shape CVVVVVCC · "posaient" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "payaient" for "posaient" ever safe?
Frequency check: "payaient" vs "posaient" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "payaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posaient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #86,903 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payaient" and "posaient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pesaient vs posaient". 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 #86,903 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.