Which to use
“pavot” and “pilot” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,524
- “pavot” frequency rank
- #31,183
- “pilot” frequency rank
- 67707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pavot | pilot |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante qui porte de grandes fleurs à quatre pétales, qui contient de l’opium et dont la graine donne l’huile d’œillette. | Gros pieu de pilotis. |
Where the eye mixes pavot and pilot
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pavot and pilot
A purely visual mix-up. pavot (\pa.vo\) and pilot (\pi.lo\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pavot is recorded at frequency rank #36,524, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.vo\. pilot is at rank #31,183, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi.lo\.
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 67707, this pair ranks #62,231 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pavot vs pilot
Shared letters: opt. Private to "pavot": av. Private to "pilot": il.
"pavot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pilot" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pavot" and "pilot" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pavot" vs "pilot" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pavot" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pilot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #62,231 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pavot" and "pilot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pavot vs pivots". 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 #62,231 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.