Which to use
“payais” and “plais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,592
- “payais” frequency rank
- #13,865
- “plais” frequency rank
- 57457
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payais | plais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de plaire. |
Where the eye mixes payais and plais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. payais runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against plais's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: payais vs plais
A purely visual mix-up. payais (\pɛ.jɛ\) and plais (\plɛ\) 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 57457, 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\. plais is at rank #13,865, tagged as averb, pronounced \plɛ\.
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 57457, this pair ranks #114,940 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payais vs plais
Shared letters: aips. Private to "payais": y. Private to "plais": l.
"payais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "plais" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "payais" and "plais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "payais" or "plais" show up more?
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 "plais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,940 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payais" and "plais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payaient vs payais". 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 #114,940 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.