pasteursvspayeursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“pasteurs” and “payeurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,642
“pasteurs” frequency rank
#33,819
“payeurs” frequency rank
56461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pasteurs payeurs
Definition Pluriel de pasteur. Pluriel de payeur.

Where the eye mixes pasteurs and payeurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

8 ch
pasteurs
7 ch
payeurs

Visual trap between pasteurs and payeurs

A purely visual mix-up. pasteurs (\pas.tœʁ\) 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 56461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pasteurs is recorded at frequency rank #22,642, classified as anoun, pronounced \pas.tœʁ\. 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 56461, this pair ranks #120,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pasteurs vs payeurs

Shared letters: aeprsu. Private to "pasteurs": t. Private to "payeurs": y.

"pasteurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "payeurs" · 7 letters · shape CVVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pasteursapsteurs · paseturs · passteurs · pasterus · pasteurrs · pasteurss · pasteusr · pastteurs
  • payeursapyeurs · paeyurs · payerus · payeurrs · payeurss · payeusr · payuers · payyeurs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pasteurs" and "payeurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pas.tœʁ\ versus \pɛ.jœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pasteurs" vs "payeurs" - which ranks higher?
"pasteurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,642 in our French list, against #33,819 for "payeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "pasteurs" and "payeurs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pasteurs" 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 #120,973 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pasteurs" 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 #120,973 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list