paidvspattConfusable pair

Quick tell: paid is a verb, patt is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paid” is a verb and “patt” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,122
“paid” frequency rank
#45,502
“patt” frequency rank
89624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paid patt
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs pay Im Schachspiel: nicht im Schach zu stehen, jedoch keinen regelgerechten Zug mehr ausführen können, ohne in ein Schach zu geraten; die Partie wird dann als unentschieden gewertet

Letter map: paid vs patt

Shared letters muted; letters that set paid and patt apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. paid (CVVC) and patt (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
paid
4 ch
patt

Role in the sentence - paid and patt

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: paid is averb and pattanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paid is recorded at frequency rank #44,122, classified as averb, pronounced […]. patt is at rank #45,502, tagged as anadj, pronounced [pat].

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 89624, this pair ranks #55,289 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of paid vs patt

Shared letters: ap. Private to "paid": di. Private to "patt": t.

"paid" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "patt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paid ← apid · padi · paidd · ppaid
  • patt ← aptt · pat · ppatt · ptat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paid" and "patt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paid" is a verb and "patt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "paid" vs "patt" - which ranks higher?
"paid" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,122 in our German list, against #45,502 for "patt". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "paid" and "patt". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paid" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,289 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paid" and "patt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patt vs Pau". 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 #55,289 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list