payeursvspeursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#33,819
“payeurs” frequency rank
#12,639
“peurs” frequency rank
46458
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature payeurs peurs
Definition Pluriel de payeur. Pluriel de peur.

Where the eye mixes payeurs and peurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. payeurs runs 7 letters (CVVVVCC) against peurs's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
payeurs
5 ch
peurs

Why the eye confuses payeurs with peurs

A purely visual mix-up. payeurs (\pɛ.jœʁ\) and peurs (\pœʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46458, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

payeurs is recorded at frequency rank #33,819, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ.jœʁ\. peurs is at rank #12,639, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pœʁ\.

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 46458, this pair ranks #194,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of payeurs vs peurs

Shared letters: eprsu. Private to "payeurs": ay. Private to "peurs": -.

"payeurs" · 7 letters · shape CVVVVCC  ·  "peurs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • payeurs ← apyeurs · paeyurs · payerus · payeurrs · payeurss · payeusr · payuers · payyeurs
  • peurs ← epurs · perus · peurrs · peurss · peusr · ppeurs · puers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "payeurs" for "peurs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɛ.jœʁ\ versus \pœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "payeurs" or "peurs"?
"peurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,639 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.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "payeurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "peurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #194,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "payeurs" and "peurs" 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 #194,784 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