English homophones
Paterson/Patterson
"Patterson" (#11,435 written frequency) beats "Paterson" (#16,990) in this 2-word /ˈpætəɹ.sən/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈpætəɹ.sən/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "Patterson" leads at #11,435, with "Paterson" trailing at #16,990.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "pat" then splits - "Paterson" (8 letters) vs "Patterson" (9).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across Paterson, Patterson: aenoprst. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
Paterson
8 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCVCCVC
Inventory aenoprst · no private letters vs siblings
Patterson
9 letters · 3 vowels · shape CVCCVCCVC
Inventory aenoprst · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "Paterson" when you mean: A surname originating as a patronymic.
- Write "Patterson" when you mean: A Scottish and Northern English surname originating as a patronymic.
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (Paterson, Patterson). Here's where to go from here.
- "Patterson" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #11,435 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: porn · pawn. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "Paterson, Patterson" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.