paymaster
/ˈpeɪmɑːstə/
"paymaster" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“paymaster” is an uncommon English word, ranked #54,382 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #54,382
- frequency rank, English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An official in charge of payments to employees, troops, etc.
| 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) |
Where “paymaster” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for paymaster is 9 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpeɪmɑːstə/. Corpus data places it at rank #54,382 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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).
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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Using “paymaster”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-A-Y-M-A-S-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpeɪmɑːstə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.