Which to use
“passeurs” and “payeurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,226
- “passeurs” frequency rank
- #33,819
- “payeurs” frequency rank
- 54045
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passeurs | payeurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de passeur. | Pluriel de payeur. |
Where the eye mixes passeurs and payeurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: passeurs vs payeurs
A purely visual mix-up. passeurs (\pa.sœʁ\) and payeurs (\pɛ.jœʁ\) 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 54045, 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\. payeurs is at rank #33,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛ.jœʁ\.
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 54045, this pair ranks #136,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of passeurs vs payeurs
Shared letters: aeprsu. Private to "passeurs": -. Private to "payeurs": y.
"passeurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "payeurs" · 7 letters · shape CVVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "passeurs" and "payeurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "passeurs" or "payeurs" 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 "passeurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "payeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passeurs" and "payeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parieurs vs payeurs". 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 #136,691 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.