patch

/pæt͡ʃ/

//pæt͡ʃ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"patch" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“patch” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,149. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#5,149
frequency rank, English
4,417
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.

Corpus desk

Index EN-patch · patch · English

patch · rank #5,149 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #5,149
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,417
  • PHOTO-FINISH paintings

Nearest frequency peer: paintings (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “patch”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “patch” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

patch vs path
80% similar
patch vs pats
60% similar
patch vs pate
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for patch
PropertyValue
Headwordpatch
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/pæt͡ʃ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,149
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “patch”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).patchlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “paintings” (#5,148), “patience” (#5,150), “opponent” (#5,147). Among 4,417 “P” headwords, “patch” is #5,149. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around patch (IPA /pæt͡ʃ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #5,149 among 4,417 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 18 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for patch, with forms such as "aptch", "pacth", and "patcch". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "path", "pats", "pate", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English patche, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of earlier Middle English placche (“patch, spot, piece of cloth”), from Old English *plæċċ, *pleċċ (“a spot, mark, patch”), from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-Germanic *plakjō… The correct English form is patch, spelled P-A-T-C-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
  2. 2
    A small piece of anything used to repair damage or a breach; as, a patch on a kettle, a roof, etc.
  3. 3
    A piece of any size, used to repair something for a temporary period only, or that it is temporary because it is not meant to last long or will be removed as soon as a proper repair can be made, which will happen in the near future.
  4. 4
    A small, usually contrasting but always somehow different or distinct, part of something else (location, time, size)
  5. 5
    A small area, a small plot of land or piece of ground.
  6. 6
    A local region of professional responsibility.
  7. 7
    A small piece of black silk stuck on the face or neck to heighten beauty by contrast, worn by ladies in the 17th and 18th centuries; an imitation beauty mark.
  8. 8
    A piece of material used to cover a wound.
  9. 9
    An adhesive piece of material, impregnated with a drug, which is worn on the skin, the drug being slowly absorbed over a period of time.
  10. 10
    A cover worn over a damaged eye, an eyepatch.
  11. 11
    A block on the muzzle of a gun, to do away with the effect of dispart, in sighting.
  12. 12
    A piece of data intended to modify a computer file by replacing a part of it.
  13. 13
    A small piece of material that is manually passed through a gun barrel to clean it.
  14. 14
    A piece of greased cloth or leather used as wrapping for a rifle ball, to make it fit the bore.
  15. 15
    A cable connecting two pieces of electrical equipment.
  16. 16
    A sound setting for a musical synthesizer (originally selected by means of a patch cable).
  17. 17
    An overlay used to obtain a stronger impression.
  18. 18
    A butterfly of the genus Chlosyne.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how patch appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. His sleeves had patches on the elbows where different fabric had been sewn on to replace material that had worn away.
  2. I can't afford to replace the roof, which is what it really needs. I'll have the roofer apply a patch.

Etymology

From Middle English patche, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of earlier Middle English placche (“patch, spot, piece of cloth”), from Old English *plæċċ, *pleċċ (“a spot, mark, patch”), from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-Germanic *plakjō (“spot, stain”). For the loss of l compare pat from Middle English platten. Germanic cognates would then include Middle English plecke, dialectal English pleck (“plot of ground, patch”), West Frisian plak (“place, spot”), Low German Plakk, Plakke (“spot, piece, patch”), Dutch plek (“spot, place, stain, patch”), Dutch plak (“piece, slab”), Swedish plagg (“garment”), Faroese plagg (“cloth, rag”). Or, possibly a variant of Old French pieche, dialectal variant of piece (“piece”). Compare also Old Occitan petaç (“patch”).

Synonyms

beauty spotsectionareablotchspotperiod of timespellstretchtract

This word in other languages

parche(Español)pièce(Français)Flicken(Deutsch)remendo(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • aptch
  • pacth
  • patcch
  • patchh
  • pathc
  • pattch
  • ppatch
  • ptach

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of patch - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

aptch2pacth2patcch1patchh1pathc2pattch1ppatch1ptach2
Edit distance from "patch"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "patch"?
"patch" is spelled P-A-T-C-H. The IPA pronunciation is /pæt͡ʃ/.
What does "patch" mean?
As a noun, "patch" means: A piece of cloth, or other suitable material, sewed or otherwise fixed upon a garment to repair or strengthen it, especially upon an old garment to cover a hole.
What words are commonly confused with "patch"?
"patch" is commonly confused with "path", "pats", "pate". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "patch"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "patch" is /pæt͡ʃ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "patch"?
From Middle English patche, of uncertain origin. Perhaps an alteration of earlier Middle English placche (“patch, spot, piece of cloth”), from Old English *plæċċ, *pleċċ (“a spot, mark, patch”), from Proto-West Germanic *plakkju, from Proto-German... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "patch", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

loyal#5,141laser#5,140radar#5,160hated#5,133

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

forty8 variantsflesh8 variantseighth8 variantsAlaska8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list