Which to use
“passeur” and “pasteurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,222
- “passeur” frequency rank
- #22,642
- “pasteurs” frequency rank
- 39864
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passeur | pasteurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui conduit un bac, un bateau pour passer l’eau. | Pluriel de pasteur. |
Where the eye mixes passeur and pasteurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. passeur runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against pasteurs's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: passeur vs pasteurs
A purely visual mix-up. passeur (\pa.sœʁ\) and pasteurs (\pas.tœʁ\) 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 39864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passeur is recorded at frequency rank #17,222, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.sœʁ\. pasteurs is at rank #22,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pas.tœʁ\.
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 39864, this pair ranks #244,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passeur vs pasteurs
Shared letters: aeprsu. Private to "passeur": -. Private to "pasteurs": t.
"passeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "pasteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "passeur" for "pasteurs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "passeur" or "pasteurs" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pasteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passeur" and "pasteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastèques vs pasteurs". 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 #244,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.