Which to use
“patten” and “patting” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,358
- “patten” frequency rank
- #32,530
- “patting” frequency rank
- 65888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patten | patting |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of various types of footwear with thick soles, often used to elevate the foot, especially wooden clogs. | The act by which something is patted. |
Where the eye mixes patten and patting
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. patten runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against patting's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between patten and patting
A purely visual mix-up. patten (/ˈpat(ə)n/) and patting (/ˈpætɪŋ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patten is recorded at frequency rank #33,358, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpat(ə)n/. patting is at rank #32,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpætɪŋ/.
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 65888, this pair ranks #70,591 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of patten vs patting
Shared letters: anpt. Private to "patten": e. Private to "patting": gi.
"patten" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "patting" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patten" for "patting" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "patten" or "patting" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "patten" and "patting" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patten" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patting" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,591 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patten" and "patting" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patting vs porting". 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 #70,591 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.