PatevsPlatteTell them apart

Which to use

“Pate” and “Platte” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,335
“Pate” frequency rank
#4,638
“Platte” frequency rank
23973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Pate Platte
Definition Ehrenamt in christlichen Kirchen zur Unterstützung der Eltern bei der religiösen Erziehung und Zeuge bei einer Sakramentsspendung relativ dünner, flacher und ebener fester Gegenstand, der überall gleich dick ist

Where the eye mixes Pate and Platte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Pate
6 ch
Platte

Look-alike desk: Pate vs Platte

A purely visual mix-up. Pate ([ˈpaːtə]) and Platte ([ˈplatə]) 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 23973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Pate is recorded at frequency rank #19,335, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpaːtə]. Platte is at rank #4,638, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈplatə].

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 23973, this pair ranks #1,854,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Pate vs Platte

Shared letters: aept. Private to "Pate": -. Private to "Platte": l.

"Pate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Platte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Pateapte · paet · patte · ppate · ptae
  • Plattelpatte · paltte · platet · pllatte · pltate · pplatte

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Pate" and "Platte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpaːtə] versus [ˈplatə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Pate" or "Platte" show up more?
"Platte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,638 in our German list, against #19,335 for "Pate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Pate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Platte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,854,027 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Pate" and "Platte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pate 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 #1,854,027 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