Which to use
“patch” is a noun and “patched” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,149
- “patch” frequency rank
- #22,763
- “patched” frequency rank
- 27912
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patch | patched |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole. | Having been repaired with a patch or patches. |
Where the eye mixes patch and patched
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: patch vs patched
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: patch is /pæt͡ʃ/ while patched is /pæt͡ʃt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “patch” sits inside “patched”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27912, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patch is recorded at frequency rank #5,149, classified as anoun, pronounced /pæt͡ʃ/. patched is at rank #22,763, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pæt͡ʃt/.
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 27912, this pair ranks #375,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patch vs patched
Shared letters: achpt. Private to "patch": -. Private to "patched": de.
"patch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "patched" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "patch" and "patched" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "patch" or "patched"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "patch" and "patched" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patched" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,142 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patch" and "patched" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patched vs patted". 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 #375,142 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.