Which to use
“parted” is a verb and “patten” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,296
- “parted” frequency rank
- #33,358
- “patten” frequency rank
- 49654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parted | patten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of part | Any of various types of footwear with thick soles, often used to elevate the foot, especially wooden clogs. |
Where the eye mixes parted and patten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between parted and patten
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parted is /ˈpɑɹtɪd/ while patten is /ˈpat(ə)n/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parted is recorded at frequency rank #16,296, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpɑɹtɪd/. patten is at rank #33,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpat(ə)n/.
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 49654, this pair ranks #181,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of parted vs patten
Shared letters: aept. Private to "parted": dr. Private to "patten": n.
"parted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "patten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "parted" and "patten" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "parted" vs "patten" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "parted" and "patten" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "parted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parted" and "patten" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Paton vs patten". 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 #181,607 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.