paragesvspatatesConfusable pair

Which to use

“parages” and “patates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,930
“parages” frequency rank
#13,859
“patates” frequency rank
33789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parages patates
Definition Région maritime. Pluriel de patate.

Where the eye mixes parages and patates

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. parages and patates follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
parages
7 ch
patates

Why the eye confuses parages with patates

A purely visual mix-up. parages (\pa.ʁaʒ\) and patates (\pa.tat\) 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 33789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parages is recorded at frequency rank #19,930, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁaʒ\. patates is at rank #13,859, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.tat\.

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 33789, this pair ranks #288,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parages vs patates

Shared letters: aeps. Private to "parages": gr. Private to "patates": t.

"parages" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "patates" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parages ← aprages · paarges · paraegs · paragess · paragges · paragse · pargaes · parrages
  • patates ← aptates · paattes · pataets · patatess · patatse · patattes · pattaes · pattates

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "parages" and "patates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ʁaʒ\ versus \pa.tat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "parages" vs "patates" - which ranks higher?
"patates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,859 in our French list, against #19,930 for "parages". 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 "parages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "patates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #288,275 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parages" and "patates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palaces vs parages". 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 #288,275 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list