Which to use
“passer” and “payer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #293
- “passer” frequency rank
- #808
- “payer” frequency rank
- 1101
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passer | payer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aller d’un lieu à un autre, traverser un espace. | Donner de l’argent pour un bien ou un service. |
Where the eye mixes passer and payer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses passer with payer
A purely visual mix-up. passer (\pa.se\) and payer (\pe.je\) 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 1101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passer is recorded at frequency rank #293, classified as averb, pronounced \pa.se\. payer is at rank #808, tagged as averb, pronounced \pe.je\.
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 1101, this pair ranks #438,617 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passer vs payer
Shared letters: aepr. Private to "passer": s. Private to "payer": y.
"passer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "payer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passer" and "payer" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "passer" or "payer"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "passer" and "payer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "passer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,617 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passer" and "payer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "payer vs peler". 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 #438,617 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.