palmvspattWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#18,649
“palm” frequency rank
#45,502
“patt” frequency rank
64151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature palm patt
Definition innere Fläche der Hand, zwischen Handwurzel und Fingern; Mittelhand, Handfläche 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

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set palm and patt apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
palm
4 ch
patt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: palm is [pɑːm] while patt is [pat]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

palm is recorded at frequency rank #18,649, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɑːm]. 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 64151, this pair ranks #651,629 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of palm vs patt

Shared letters: ap. Private to "palm": lm. Private to "patt": t.

"palm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "patt" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • palmaplm · pallm · palmm · paml · plam · ppalm
  • pattaptt · pat · ppatt · ptat

Frequency comparison

palm#18,649
patt#45,502

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "palm" and "patt" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "palm" is a noun and "patt" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "palm" or "patt"?
"palm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,649 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.

Remembering palm vs patt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “palm”; for an adjective, it's “patt”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “palm” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list