Which to use
“pate” and “patten” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,784
- “pate” frequency rank
- #33,358
- “patten” frequency rank
- 67142
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pate | patten |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The head, particularly the top or crown. | Any of various types of footwear with thick soles, often used to elevate the foot, especially wooden clogs. |
Where the eye mixes pate and patten
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pate runs 4 letters (CVCV) against patten's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pate and patten
A purely visual mix-up. pate (/peɪt/) and patten (/ˈpat(ə)n/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67142, 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/. patten is at rank #33,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpat(ə)n/.
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 67142, this pair ranks #64,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pate vs patten
Shared letters: aept. Private to "pate": -. Private to "patten": n.
"pate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "patten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pate" and "patten" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pate" vs "patten" - 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 "pate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patten" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,711 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pate" and "patten" 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 #64,711 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.