Which to use
“payais” and “payons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,592
- “payais” frequency rank
- #28,286
- “payons” frequency rank
- 71878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payais | payons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer. |
Where the eye mixes payais and payons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses payais with payons
A purely visual mix-up. payais (\pɛ.jɛ\) and payons (\pɛ.jɔ̃\) 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 71878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payais is recorded at frequency rank #43,592, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ.jɛ\. payons is at rank #28,286, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛ.jɔ̃\.
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 71878, this pair ranks #45,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of payais vs payons
Shared letters: apsy. Private to "payais": i. Private to "payons": no.
"payais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "payons" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "payais" and "payons" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "payais" or "payons"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "payais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payais" and "payons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parions vs payons". 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 #45,957 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.