patiosvspatosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,665
“patios” frequency rank
#16,666
“patos” frequency rank
33331
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patios patos
Definition Forma del plural de patio. Forma del plural de pato.

Where the eye mixes patios and patos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. patios runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against patos's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
patios
5 ch
patos

Look-alike desk: patios vs patos

A purely visual mix-up. patios ([ˈpat̪jos]) and patos ([ˈpat̪os]) 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 33331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patios is recorded at frequency rank #16,665, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪jos]. patos is at rank #16,666, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpat̪os].

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 33331, this pair ranks #197,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patios vs patos

Shared letters: aopst. Private to "patios": i. Private to "patos": -.

"patios" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "patos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patios ← aptios · paitos · patioss · patiso · patois · pattios · ppatios · ptaios
  • patos ← paots · patoss · pattos · ppatos · ptaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "patios" for "patos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpat̪jos] versus [ˈpat̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "patios" or "patos"?
"patios" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,665 in our Spanish list, against #16,666 for "patos". 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 "patios" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #197,338 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patios" and "patos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patos vs potes". 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 #197,338 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