Which to use
“pate” and “pyre” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,784
- “pate” frequency rank
- #42,355
- “pyre” frequency rank
- 76139
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pate | pyre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The head, particularly the top or crown. | A funeral pile; a combustible heap on which corpses are burned. |
Where the eye mixes pate and pyre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pate and pyre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: pate vs pyre
A purely visual mix-up. pate (/peɪt/) and pyre (/ˈpaɪɚ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76139, 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/. pyre is at rank #42,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpaɪɚ/.
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 76139, this pair ranks #30,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pate vs pyre
Shared letters: ep. Private to "pate": at. Private to "pyre": ry.
"pate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "pyre" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pate" for "pyre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pate" vs "pyre" - which ranks higher?
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 "pyre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pate" and "pyre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pyre vs pyrite". 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 #30,961 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.