Which to use
“payés” is an adjective and “plays” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,591
- “payés” frequency rank
- #45,787
- “plays” frequency rank
- 51378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | payés | plays |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de payé. | Pluriel de play. |
Where the eye mixes payés and plays
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. payés (CVVVC) and plays (CCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: payés vs plays
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: payés is \pɛ.je\ while plays is \ˈpleɪz\. 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 51378, 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\. plays is at rank #45,787, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈpleɪz\.
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 51378, this pair ranks #155,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of payés vs plays
Shared letters: apsy. Private to "payés": é. Private to "plays": l.
"payés" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "plays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plays ← lpays · palys · plasy · playss · playys · pllays · plyas · pplays
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "payés" and "plays" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "payés" vs "plays" - which ranks higher?
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 "payés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plays" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "payés" and "plays" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plays vs pliés". 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 #155,467 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.