Which to use
“pared” and “patted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,472
- “pared” frequency rank
- #37,148
- “patted” frequency rank
- 76620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pared | patted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pare | simple past and past participle of pat |
Where the eye mixes pared and patted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pared runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against patted's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pared with patted
A purely visual mix-up. pared (/pɛəd/) and patted (/ˈpatɪd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pared is recorded at frequency rank #39,472, classified as averb, pronounced /pɛəd/. 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 76620, this pair ranks #29,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pared vs patted
Shared letters: adep. Private to "pared": r. Private to "patted": t.
"pared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "patted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pared" for "patted" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pared" or "patted"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "pared" and "patted" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pared" 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 #29,593 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pared" and "patted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pared vs plied". 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 #29,593 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.