patervsplateWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,439
“pater” frequency rank
#32,211
“plate” frequency rank
40650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pater plate
Definition der Vater Teller

Letter map: pater vs plate

Shared letters muted; letters that set pater and plate apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
pater
5 ch
plate

Corpus notes: pater and plate

pater and plate are indexed as a confusable German pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pater is recorded at frequency rank #8,439, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. plate is at rank #32,211, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pleɪt].

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 40650, this pair ranks #1,502,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pater vs plate

Shared letters: aept. Private to "pater": r. Private to "plate": l.

"pater" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "plate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paterapter · paetr · paterr · patre · patter · ppater · ptaer
  • platelpate · palte · plaet · pllate · pltae · pplate

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pater" and "plate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "pater" vs "plate" - which ranks higher?
"pater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,439 in our German list, against #32,211 for "plate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "pater" vs "plate" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pater" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,502,336 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pater" and "plate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plants vs plate". 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 #1,502,336 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