Which to use
“padded” is an adjective and “patted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,891
- “padded” frequency rank
- #37,148
- “patted” frequency rank
- 59039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | padded | patted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having padding. | simple past and past participle of pat |
Where the eye mixes padded and patted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between padded and patted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: padded is /ˈpædɪd/ while patted is /ˈpatɪd/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59039, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
padded is recorded at frequency rank #21,891, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈpædɪd/. patted is at rank #37,148, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpatɪd/.
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 59039, this pair ranks #108,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of padded vs patted
Shared letters: adep. Private to "padded": -. Private to "patted": t.
"padded" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "patted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "padded" and "patted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "padded" or "patted"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "padded" and "patted" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "padded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,702 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "padded" and "patted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pared vs patted". 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 #108,702 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.