Which to use
“payait” and “plaçait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,698
- “payait” frequency rank
- #27,184
- “plaçait” frequency rank
- 43882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payait | plaçait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de placer. |
Where the eye mixes payait and plaçait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. payait runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against plaçait's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between payait and plaçait
A purely visual mix-up. payait (\pɛ.jɛ\) and plaçait (\pla.sɛ\) 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 43882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
payait is recorded at frequency rank #16,698, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ.jɛ\. plaçait is at rank #27,184, tagged as averb, pronounced \pla.sɛ\.
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 43882, this pair ranks #214,666 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payait vs plaçait
Shared letters: aipt. Private to "payait": y. Private to "plaçait": lç.
"payait" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "plaçait" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- payait ← apyait · paayit · payaitt · payati · payiat · payyait · ppayait · pyaait
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "payait" for "plaçait" ever safe?
Which is more common, "payait" or "plaçait"?
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 "payait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plaçait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,666 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payait" and "plaçait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "placage vs plaçait". 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 #214,666 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.