Which to use
“paste” and “path” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,183
- “paste” frequency rank
- #2,006
- “path” frequency rank
- 10189
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paste | path |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A soft moist mixture, in particular: | A trail for the use of, or worn by, pedestrians. |
Where the eye mixes paste and path
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: paste vs path
A purely visual mix-up. paste (/peɪst/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paste is recorded at frequency rank #8,183, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪst/. 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 10189, this pair ranks #493,544 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of paste vs path
Shared letters: apt. Private to "paste": es. Private to "path": h.
"paste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paste" and "path" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paste" vs "path" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "path" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #493,544 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paste" and "path" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paste vs pester". 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 #493,544 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.