pagevspathWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#791
“page” frequency rank
#2,006
“path” frequency rank
2797
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature page path
Definition One of the many pieces of paper bound together within a book or similar document. A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians.

Where the eye mixes page and path

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
page
4 ch
path

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. page (/peɪd͡ʒ/) and path (/pɑːθ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2797, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

page is recorded at frequency rank #791, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪd͡ʒ/. path is at rank #2,006, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɑːθ/.

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 2797, this pair ranks #524,009 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of page vs path

Shared letters: ap. Private to "page": eg. Private to "path": ht.

"page" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pageapge · paeg · pagge · pgae · ppage
  • pathapth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "page" and "path" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/peɪd͡ʒ/ versus /pɑːθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "page" or "path"?
"page" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #791 in our English list, against #2,006 for "path". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list