paymaster
/ˈpeɪmɑːstə/
"paymaster" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“paymaster” is uncommon English (frequency #54,382 among 4,417 “P” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #54,382
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An official in charge of payments to employees, troops, etc.
Corpus desk
Index EN-paymaster · paymaster · English
paymaster · rank #54,382 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #54,382
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH pattie
Nearest frequency peer: pattie (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “paymaster”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- parfait
parfait
45,623 corpus weight
- patella
patella
45,622 corpus weight
- pattie
pattie
45,620 corpus weight
- paymaster
paymaster
45,619 corpus weight
- PDX
PDX
45,616 corpus weight
- pecuniary
pecuniary
45,615 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “paymaster” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | paymaster |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpeɪmɑːstə/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #54,382 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “paymaster” in English
Rare enough to double-check
paymaster is uncommon English at frequency #54,382 among 4,417 “P” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈpeɪmɑːstə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for paymaster, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From pay + master. The correct English form is paymaster, spelled P-A-Y-M-A-S-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1An official in charge of payments to employees, troops, etc.
- 2A person or body which demands loyalty or services in return for payment (especially as paid in advance).
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how paymaster appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
"This would have been completely avoidable if the RDG and their paymasters at the DfT, and Transport Secretary Mark Harper, had invited us to talks sooner."
Etymology
From pay + master.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "paymaster", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).