Which to use
“pacotille” and “pastille” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,962
- “pacotille” frequency rank
- #38,967
- “pastille” frequency rank
- 76929
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pacotille | pastille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Les marchandises, qu’il était permis à ceux qui s’embarquaient sur un vaisseau, comme officiers, matelots, gens de l’équipage ou passagers, d’emporter avec eux, afin d’en faire commerce pour leur propre compte. | Petits morceaux de pâte séchée, de différentes formes, utilisée en confiserie et en pharmacie où l'on considère que ce sont des saccharolés solidifiés. |
Where the eye mixes pacotille and pastille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pacotille runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against pastille's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pacotille with pastille
A purely visual mix-up. pacotille (\pa.kɔ.tij\) and pastille (\pas.tij\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pacotille is recorded at frequency rank #37,962, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.kɔ.tij\. pastille is at rank #38,967, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pas.tij\.
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 76929, this pair ranks #29,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pacotille vs pastille
Shared letters: aeilpt. Private to "pacotille": co. Private to "pastille": s.
"pacotille" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV · "pastille" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pacotille" and "pastille" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pacotille" vs "pastille" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pacotille" and "pastille" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pacotille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pastille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,796 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pacotille" and "pastille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastiche vs pastille". 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 #29,796 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.