Which to use
“pâque” and “patte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,666
- “pâque” frequency rank
- #10,206
- “patte” frequency rank
- 41872
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâque | patte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante orthographique de Pâque. | Membre d’un animal quadrupède, d’un oiseau (à l’exception des oiseaux de proie), des arthropodes comme l’écrevisse, le homard, l’araignée, la mouche, etc. |
Where the eye mixes pâque and patte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pâque (CVCVV) and patte (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses pâque with patte
A purely visual mix-up. pâque (\pɑk\) and patte (\pat\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pâque is recorded at frequency rank #31,666, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑk\. patte is at rank #10,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pat\.
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 41872, this pair ranks #229,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâque vs patte
Shared letters: ep. Private to "pâque": quâ. Private to "patte": at.
"pâque" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "patte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- patte ← aptte · patet · ppatte · ptate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pâque" for "patte" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pâque" or "patte" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pâque" and "patte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pâque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,898 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâque" and "patte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâque vs pasque". 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 #229,898 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.