Which to use
“paste” and “pats” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,183
- “paste” frequency rank
- #19,160
- “pats” frequency rank
- 27343
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paste | pats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A soft moist mixture, in particular: | plural of pat |
Where the eye mixes paste and pats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: paste vs pats
A purely visual mix-up. paste (/peɪst/) and pats (/pæts/) 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 27343, 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/. pats is at rank #19,160, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pæts/.
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 27343, this pair ranks #379,686 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paste vs pats
Shared letters: apst. Private to "paste": e. Private to "pats": -.
"paste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "paste" for "pats" ever safe?
Frequency check: "paste" vs "pats" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "paste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,686 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paste" and "pats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pats vs pecs". 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 #379,686 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.