Which to use
“payés” is an adjective and “pètes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,591
- “payés” frequency rank
- #48,737
- “pètes” frequency rank
- 54328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payés | pètes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de payé. | Pluriel de pète. |
Where the eye mixes payés and pètes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses payés with pètes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: payés is \pɛ.je\ while pètes is \pɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54328, 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\. pètes is at rank #48,737, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛt\.
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 54328, this pair ranks #134,758 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payés vs pètes
Shared letters: ps. Private to "payés": ayé. Private to "pètes": etè.
"payés" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "pètes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "payés" and "pètes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "payés" or "pètes" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "payés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,758 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payés" and "pètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pètes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #134,758 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.