payéevsplacéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“payée” and “placée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,902
“payée” frequency rank
#4,787
“placée” frequency rank
13689
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature payée placée
Definition Féminin singulier de payé. Féminin singulier de placé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set payée and placée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
payée
6 ch
placée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. payée (\pɛ.je\) and placée (\pla.se\) 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 13689, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

payée is recorded at frequency rank #8,902, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛ.je\. placée is at rank #4,787, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pla.se\.

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 13689, this pair ranks #399,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of payée vs placée

Shared letters: aepé. Private to "payée": y. Private to "placée": cl.

"payée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "placée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequency comparison

payée#8,902
placée#4,787

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "payée" and "placée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛ.je\ versus \pla.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "payée" or "placée"?
"placée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,787 in our French list, against #8,902 for "payée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering payée vs placée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “payée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list