pathvspatínWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“path” and “patín” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,731
“path” frequency rank
#46,109
“patín” frequency rank
82840
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature path patín
Definition Camino, sendero, vereda. Petrel.

Where the eye mixes path and patín

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. path runs 4 letters (CVCC) against patín's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
path
5 ch
patín

Visual trap between path and patín

A purely visual mix-up. path (/pɑːθ/) and patín ([paˈt̪ĩn]) 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 82840, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

path is recorded at frequency rank #36,731, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɑːθ/. patín is at rank #46,109, tagged as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪ĩn].

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 82840, this pair ranks #8,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of path vs patín

Shared letters: apt. Private to "path": h. Private to "patín": ní.

"path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "patín" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • path ← apth · paht · pathh · patth · ppath · ptah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "path" and "patín" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/pɑːθ/ versus [paˈt̪ĩn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "path" vs "patín" - which ranks higher?
"path" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,731 in our Spanish list, against #46,109 for "patín". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "path" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patín" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "path" and "patín" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partían vs patín". 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 #8,795 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list