payésvspayezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: payés is a adjective, payez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“payés” is an adjective and “payez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,591
“payés” frequency rank
#15,204
“payez” frequency rank
20795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature payés payez
Definition Masculin pluriel de payé. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de payer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set payés and payez apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
payés
5 ch
payez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: payés and payez carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɛ.je\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

payés is recorded at frequency rank #5,591, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛ.je\. payez is at rank #15,204, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɛ.je\.

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 20795, this pair ranks #366,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of payés vs payez

Shared letters: apy. Private to "payés": . Private to "payez": ez.

"payés" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "payez" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • payezapyez · paeyz · payezz · payyez · payze · ppayez · pyaez

Frequency comparison

payés#5,591
payez#15,204

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "payés" and "payez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "payés" is an adjective and "payez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "payés" or "payez"?
"payés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,591 in our French list, against #15,204 for "payez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering payés vs payez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “payés”; for a verb, it's “payez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “payés” 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