Which to use
“pate” is a noun and “patted” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,784
- “pate” frequency rank
- #37,148
- “patted” frequency rank
- 70932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pate | patted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The head, particularly the top or crown. | simple past and past participle of pat |
Where the eye mixes pate and patted
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pate runs 4 letters (CVCV) against patted's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pate vs patted
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pate is /peɪt/ while patted is /ˈpatɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pate is recorded at frequency rank #33,784, classified as anoun, pronounced /peɪt/. patted is at rank #37,148, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpatɪd/.
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 70932, this pair ranks #48,676 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pate vs patted
Shared letters: aept. Private to "pate": -. Private to "patted": d.
"pate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "patted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pate" and "patted" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pate" or "patted"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,676 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pate" and "patted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pate vs Pyke". 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 #48,676 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.