Which to use
“passeurs” and “pasteur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,226
- “passeurs” frequency rank
- #5,376
- “pasteur” frequency rank
- 25602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passeurs | pasteur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de passeur. | Berger ; pâtre. — Ne se dit qu’en parlant des peuples anciens et dans le style poétique. |
Where the eye mixes passeurs and pasteur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses passeurs with pasteur
A purely visual mix-up. passeurs (\pa.sœʁ\) and pasteur (\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 25602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passeurs is recorded at frequency rank #20,226, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.sœʁ\. pasteur is at rank #5,376, 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 25602, this pair ranks #339,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passeurs vs pasteur
Shared letters: aeprsu. Private to "passeurs": -. Private to "pasteur": t.
"passeurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "pasteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passeurs" and "pasteur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "passeurs" or "pasteur"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "passeurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pasteur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #339,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passeurs" and "pasteur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parieurs vs passeurs". 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 #339,911 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.