pathsvsPatonWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#6,945
“paths” frequency rank
#39,020
“Paton” frequency rank
45965
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paths Paton
Definition plural of path A surname transferred from the given name.

Letter map: paths vs Paton

Shared letters muted; letters that set paths and Paton apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
paths
5 ch
Paton

Part-of-speech tell for paths / Paton

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: paths is anoun and Patonaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45965, 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/. Paton is at rank #39,020, 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 45965, this pair ranks #216,278 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paths vs Paton

Shared letters: apt. Private to "paths": hs. Private to "Paton": no.

"paths" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "Paton" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pathsapths · pahts · pathhs · pathss · patsh · patths · ppaths · ptahs
  • Patonapton · paotn · patno · patonn · ppaton · ptaon

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paths" and "Paton" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "paths" is a noun and "Paton" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "paths" or "Paton"?
"paths" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,945 in our English list, against #39,020 for "Paton". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "paths" and "Paton". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paths" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Paton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,278 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paths" and "Paton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Palos vs Paton". 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 #216,278 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