pace vs pepe, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“pace” is an adverb and “pepe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,071
“pace” frequency rank: #18,140
“pepe” frequency rank: 47211
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pace	pepe
Definition	em paz, pacificamente	pimenta

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pace and pepe apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

pace

4 ch

pepe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pace is /ˈpa.t͡se/, /ˈpɑ.t͡sɛ/ while pepe is /'pe.pe/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pace is recorded at frequency rank #29,071, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈpa.t͡se/, /ˈpɑ.t͡sɛ/. pepe is at rank #18,140, tagged as anoun, pronounced /'pe.pe/.

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 47211, this pair ranks #18,060 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pace vs pepe

Shared letters: ep. Private to "pace": ac. Private to "pepe": -.

"pace" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pepe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

pace ← apce · pacce · paec · pcae · ppace
pepe ← eppe · peep · peppe · ppee · ppepe

Frequency comparison

pace#29,071

pepe#18,140

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pace" and "pepe" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pace" is an adverb and "pepe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "pace" or "pepe"?

"pepe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,140 in our Portuguese list, against #29,071 for "pace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pace vs pepe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “pace”; for a noun, it's “pepe”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pace” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable