Which to use
“patate” and “patates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,213
- “patate” frequency rank
- #13,859
- “patates” frequency rank
- 26072
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patate | patates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patate douce (plante). | Pluriel de patate. |
Same sound, different letters: patate vs patates
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - patate / patates
This is the hard kind. patate and patates are pronounced identically (\pa.tat\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “patate” sits inside “patates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26072, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patate is recorded at frequency rank #12,213, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tat\. 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 26072, this pair ranks #337,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of patate vs patates
Shared letters: aept. Private to "patate": -. Private to "patates": s.
"patate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "patates" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patate" for "patates" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "patate" or "patates" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "patate" 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 #337,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patate" and "patates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "palaces vs patates". 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 #337,276 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.