Which to use
“payait” is a verb and “plait” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,698
- “payait” frequency rank
- #2,845
- “plait” frequency rank
- 19543
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payait | plait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Droit seigneurial de mutation. |
Where the eye mixes payait and plait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. payait runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against plait's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses payait with plait
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: payait is \pɛ.jɛ\ while plait is \plɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 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 19543, 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\. plait is at rank #2,845, tagged as anoun, 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 19543, this pair ranks #372,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of payait vs plait
Shared letters: aipt. Private to "payait": y. Private to "plait": l.
"payait" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "plait" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "payait" and "plait" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "payait" or "plait" show up more?
Useful next steps
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 "plait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,753 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payait" and "plait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payais vs payait". 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 #372,753 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.