Which to use
“parsons” is a verb and “patrons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,102
- “parsons” frequency rank
- #5,798
- “patrons” frequency rank
- 37900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | parsons | patrons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe parser. | Pluriel de patron. |
Where the eye mixes parsons and patrons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. parsons and patrons follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: parsons vs patrons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: parsons is \paʁ.sɔ̃\ while patrons is \pa.tʁɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
parsons is recorded at frequency rank #32,102, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.sɔ̃\. patrons is at rank #5,798, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.tʁɔ̃\.
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 37900, this pair ranks #259,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of parsons vs patrons
Shared letters: anoprs. Private to "parsons": -. Private to "patrons": t.
"parsons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "patrons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "parsons" for "patrons" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "parsons" or "patrons" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "parsons" and "patrons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "parsons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patrons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #259,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "parsons" and "patrons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parsons vs persans". 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 #259,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.