Which to use
“patted” and “potted” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,148
- “patted” frequency rank
- #31,298
- “potted” frequency rank
- 68446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patted | potted |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pat | simple past and past participle of pot |
Letter map: patted vs potted
Shared letters muted; letters that set patted and potted apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. patted and potted follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Spelling & dictionary notes on patted vs potted
patted and potted are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - a in “patted” becomes o in “potted”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patted is recorded at frequency rank #37,148, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈpatɪd/. potted is at rank #31,298, tagged as averb.
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 68446, this pair ranks #58,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of patted vs potted
Shared letters: dept. Private to "patted": a. Private to "potted": o.
"patted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "potted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "patted" and "potted" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "patted" or "potted" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "patted" and "potted". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "patted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potted" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,831 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patted" and "potted" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pared vs patted". 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 #58,831 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.