Which to use
“patate” and “pâte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,213
- “patate” frequency rank
- #5,696
- “pâte” frequency rank
- 17909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patate | pâte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patate douce (plante). | Préparation culinaire à base de farine consommée après cuisson sous forme de pain, tarte, gâteau, friandise, etc. |
Where the eye mixes patate and pâte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses patate with pâte
A purely visual mix-up. patate (\pa.tat\) and pâte (\pɑt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17909, 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\. pâte is at rank #5,696, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑt\.
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 17909, this pair ranks #380,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of patate vs pâte
Shared letters: ept. Private to "patate": a. Private to "pâte": â.
"patate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pâte" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- patate ← aptate · paatte · pataet · patatte · pattae · pattate · ppatate · ptaate
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patate" for "pâte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "patate" or "pâte"?
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 "patate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pâte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #380,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patate" and "pâte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patate vs platane". 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 #380,878 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.