pathsvsPatnaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: paths is a noun, Patna is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“paths” is a noun and “Patna” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,945
“paths” frequency rank
#35,453
“Patna” frequency rank
42398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paths Patna
Definition plural of path The capital and largest city of Bihar, India.

Letter map: paths vs Patna

Shared letters muted; letters that set paths and Patna apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. paths (CVCCC) and Patna (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
paths
5 ch
Patna

Part-of-speech tell for paths / Patna

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: paths is anoun and Patnaaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paths is recorded at frequency rank #6,945, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːðz/. Patna is at rank #35,453, tagged as aname.

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 42398, this pair ranks #249,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paths vs Patna

Shared letters: apt. Private to "paths": hs. Private to "Patna": n.

"paths" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Patna" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paths ← apths · pahts · pathhs · pathss · patsh · patths · ppaths · ptahs
  • Patna ← aptna · panta · patan · patnna · pattna · ppatna · ptana

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paths" and "Patna" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paths" is a noun and "Patna" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "paths" or "Patna" show up more?
"paths" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,945 in our English list, against #35,453 for "Patna". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "paths" and "Patna".

  • Full dictionary entry for "paths" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Patna" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #249,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paths" and "Patna" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Patil vs Patna". 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 #249,590 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list