Which to use
“pasteur” and “pasteurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,376
- “pasteur” frequency rank
- #22,642
- “pasteurs” frequency rank
- 28018
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pasteur | pasteurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Berger ; pâtre. — Ne se dit qu’en parlant des peuples anciens et dans le style poétique. | Pluriel de pasteur. |
Same sound, different letters: pasteur vs pasteurs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - pasteur and pasteurs
This is the hard kind. pasteur and pasteurs are pronounced identically (\pas.tœʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “pasteur” sits inside “pasteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pasteur is recorded at frequency rank #5,376, classified as anoun, pronounced \pas.tœʁ\. 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 28018, this pair ranks #325,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pasteur vs pasteurs
Shared letters: aeprstu. Private to "pasteur": -. Private to "pasteurs": -.
"pasteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "pasteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pasteur" and "pasteurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pasteur" vs "pasteurs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"pasteur" and "pasteurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pasteur" 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 #325,388 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pasteur" 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 #325,388 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.