Which to use
“pat” and “paths” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,785
- “pat” frequency rank
- #6,945
- “paths” frequency rank
- 11730
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pat | paths |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The sound of a light slap or tap with a soft flat object, especially of a footstep. | plural of path |
Where the eye mixes pat and paths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pat vs paths
A purely visual mix-up. pat (/pæt/) and paths (/pɑːðz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pat” sits inside “paths”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11730, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pat is recorded at frequency rank #4,785, classified as anoun, pronounced /pæt/. paths is at rank #6,945, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɑːðz/.
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 11730, this pair ranks #485,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pat vs paths
Shared letters: apt. Private to "pat": -. Private to "paths": hs.
"pat" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "paths" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paths ← apths · pahts · pathhs · pathss · patsh · patths · ppaths · ptahs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pat" and "paths" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pat" or "paths"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #485,450 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pat" and "paths" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Palos vs paths". 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 #485,450 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.