patínvspatioWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#46,109
“patín” frequency rank
#3,277
“patio” frequency rank
49386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patín patio
Definition Petrel. Espacio cerrado con paredes o galerías, que en las casas y otros edificios se deja al descubierto.

Where the eye mixes patín and patio

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. patín (CVCVC) and patio (CVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
patín
5 ch
patio

Visual trap between patín and patio

A purely visual mix-up. patín ([paˈt̪ĩn]) and patio ([ˈpat̪jo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patín is recorded at frequency rank #46,109, classified as anoun, pronounced [paˈt̪ĩn]. patio is at rank #3,277, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪jo].

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 49386, this pair ranks #109,150 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patín vs patio

Shared letters: apt. Private to "patín": ní. Private to "patio": io.

"patín" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "patio" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patio ← aptio · paito · patoi · pattio · ppatio · ptaio

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "patín" for "patio" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([paˈt̪ĩn] versus [ˈpat̪jo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "patín" or "patio"?
"patio" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,277 in our Spanish list, against #46,109 for "patín". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "patín" and "patio" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patín" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patio" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,150 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patín" and "patio" 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 #109,150 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