pate
/peɪt/
"pate" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“pate” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #33,784) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #33,784
- frequency rank, English
- 4,417
- “P” headwords
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The head, particularly the top or crown.
Corpus desk
Index EN-pate · pate · English
pate · rank #33,784 · 4 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #33,784
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 4 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,417
- PHOTO-FINISH pasty
Nearest frequency peer: pasty (-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.
Frequency neighbours of confusable “pate”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- parched
parched
66,220 corpus weight
- passageway
passageway
66,219 corpus weight
- pasty
pasty
66,218 corpus weight
- pate
pate
66,217 corpus weight
- patently
patently
66,216 corpus weight
- PCA
PCA
66,215 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “pate” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pate |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /peɪt/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #33,784 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “pate”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for pate is neighbouring look-alikes ("pt", "PE", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /peɪt/. Frequency #33,784 among 4,417 “P” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for pate, with forms such as "apte", "patte", and "ppate". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pt", "PE", "put", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English pate, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortened form of Old French patene or Medieval Latin patena, both from Latin patina (“pan, dish”). Alternatively, perhaps akin to Old Frisian pote (“skull”). The correct English form is pate, spelled P-A-T-E.
Definition
- 1The head, particularly the top or crown.
- 2Wit, cleverness, cognitive abilities.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how pate appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He had a shiny, bald pate.
For his vnhappynes ſhall come vpon his owne heade, ⁊ his wickednes ſhall fall vpon his owne pate.
Etymology
From Middle English pate, of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortened form of Old French patene or Medieval Latin patena, both from Latin patina (“pan, dish”). Alternatively, perhaps akin to Old Frisian pote (“skull”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- apte
- patte
- ppate
- ptae
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pate - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pate", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).