Which to use
“payait” and “puait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,698
- “payait” frequency rank
- #40,941
- “puait” frequency rank
- 57639
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payait | puait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de payer. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de puer. |
Where the eye mixes payait and puait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. payait runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against puait's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: payait vs puait
A purely visual mix-up. payait (\pɛ.jɛ\) and puait (\pɥɛ\) 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 57639, 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\. puait is at rank #40,941, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥɛ\.
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 57639, this pair ranks #113,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payait vs puait
Shared letters: aipt. Private to "payait": y. Private to "puait": u.
"payait" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "puait" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "payait" and "puait" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "payait" or "puait"?
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 "payait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,821 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payait" and "puait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puait vs purin". 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 #113,821 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.