panservspauseConfusable pair

Quick tell: panser is a verb, pause is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“panser” is a verb and “pause” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,408
“panser” frequency rank
#2,730
“pause” frequency rank
43138
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature panser pause
Definition Soigner une plaie ou une blessure ; lui faire un pansement. Suspension ou interruption momentanée d’une action.

Where the eye mixes panser and pause

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
panser
5 ch
pause

Look-alike desk: panser vs pause

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: panser is \pɑ̃.se\ while pause is \poz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

panser is recorded at frequency rank #40,408, classified as averb, pronounced \pɑ̃.se\. pause is at rank #2,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced \poz\.

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 43138, this pair ranks #220,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of panser vs pause

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "panser": nr. Private to "pause": u.

"panser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "pause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • panserapnser · panesr · pannser · panserr · pansre · pansser · pasner · pnaser
  • pauseapuse · pasue · paues · pausse · ppause · puase

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "panser" and "pause" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "panser" is a verb and "pause" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "panser" or "pause"?
"pause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,730 in our French list, against #40,408 for "panser". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "panser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pause" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "panser" and "pause" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "panser vs Panzer". 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 #220,330 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list