pair
\pɛʁ\
The verdict
“pair” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #7,212) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #7,212
- frequency rank, French
- 6,826
- “P” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Personne de même condition et de même rang dans l’état.
Corpus desk
Index FR-pair · pair · French
pair · rank #7,212 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #7,212
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 6,826
- PHOTO-FINISH occupés
Nearest frequency peer: occupés (-1 rank slots)
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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “pair”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- nettoyage
nettoyage
92,792 corpus weight
- occidental
occidental
92,791 corpus weight
- occupés
occupés
92,790 corpus weight
- pair
pair
92,789 corpus weight
- passionné
passionné
92,788 corpus weight
- photographi…
photographies
92,787 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “pair” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pair |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pɛʁ\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #7,212 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “pair” se place dans la fréquence du français
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for pair is neighbouring look-alikes ("Pr", "pi", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced \pɛʁ\. Frequency #7,212 among 6,826 “P” headwords. 8 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for pair, with forms such as "apir", "pairr", and "piar". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Pr", "pi", "pas", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pair, spelled P-A-I-R.
Definition
- 1Personne de même condition et de même rang dans l’état.
- 2Titre de dignité porté au Moyen Âge par les grands vassaux du roi.
- 3Seigneur qui possédait des terres érigées en pairies et qui avaient droit de séance au parlement de Paris.
- 4Membre de la Chambre des pairs en France de 1815 à 1848.
- 5Membre de la Chambre des Lords en Angleterre.
- 6Mâle ou femelle de certains oiseaux, et particulièrement de la tourterelle, en parlant de l’un par rapport à l’autre.
- 7Parité de change qui résulte de la comparaison du prix d’une espèce dans un pays avec le prix de la même espèce dans un autre pays.
- 8Personne faisant le même métier, occupant la même profession, une fonction similaire.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pair appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Le trisaïeul de son trisaïeul était l’égal, le compagnon, le pair du roi ; à ce titre il est lui-même d’une classe privilégiée, celle des gentilshommes […]
Elle ne répond pas ; elle ne se penche point : c’est la duchesse. Je la tiens donc, celle qui ne veut embrasser que ses pairs et refusa, le jour où elle eut trente ans, à la dernière Assomption, de serrer la main du paysan qui lui offrait le bouquet des métayers. Si je les vengeais, et la dénonçais soudain, au beau milieu de la fête.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- apir
- pairr
- piar
- ppair
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pair - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pair"?
What does "pair" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pair", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "pair". Here's where to go from here.
- "pair" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Pr". View pair
- 4 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #7,212 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "P" letter cohort. P–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.