Palate or palette?
palate is a noun meaning “A part associated with the mouth of certain invertebrates, somewhat analogous…”; palette is a noun meaning “A thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) palette is about 2.5 times as common as palate.
What is the difference between palate and palette?
| palate | palette | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun |
| Meaning | A part associated with the mouth of certain invertebrates, somewhat analogous to the palate of vertebrates A projection in the throat of certain bilabiate flowers as the snapdragon | A thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours A set of colours available to be used (or mixed) |
| Example | none recorded | Use your mouse to select the colour you want to use from the circular colour palette |
| Forms | palates | palettes |
| Pronunciation | /ˈpæl.ət/ /ˈpɛl.ət/ /pəˈleʈ/ | /ˈpælɪt/ /ˈpælət/ |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words | 5.5 times per million words |
Sources: palate and palette in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of palate and palette
palate
- 1
A part associated with the mouth of certain invertebrates, somewhat analogous to the palate of vertebrates
- 2
A projection in the throat of certain bilabiate flowers as the snapdragon
- 3
The palate of an animal, as an item of food
- 4
A person's ability to distinguish between and appreciate different flavors
- 5
Mental relish; a liking or affinity for something
- 6
Taste or flavour, especially with reference to wine or other alcoholic drinks
palette
- 1
A thin board on which a painter lays and mixes colours
- 2
A set of colours available to be used (or mixed)
Use your mouse to select the colour you want to use from the circular colour palette
- 3
The range of colors in a given work or item or body of work
- 4
The range of tones or tone colors in a given musical composition or performance
- 5
A set of makeup including a variety of colors, often packaged together in a tray
She removed an eyeshadow palette from her bag
- 6
A visual selection of colours, tools, commands, etc
- 7
A plate of armour covering the points of junction at the bend of the shoulders and elbows
- 8
A plate against which a person presses their chest to give force to a hand-operated drill
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, palate or palette?
palate appears 2.2 times per million words; palette 5.5 times per million words.
palate 2.2 times per million wordspalette 5.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search palate vs palette?
“palate vs palette” is searched about 2,900 times a month on Google and 130 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“palette vs palate”, “palate or palette”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.