patatevspavageWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,213
“patate” frequency rank
#39,448
“pavage” frequency rank
51661
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patate pavage
Definition Patate douce (plante). Surface pavée.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set patate and pavage apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
patate
6 ch
pavage

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. patate (\pa.tat\) and pavage (\pa.vaʒ\) 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 51661, 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\. pavage is at rank #39,448, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.vaʒ\.

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 51661, this pair ranks #153,369 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patate vs pavage

Shared letters: aep. Private to "patate": t. Private to "pavage": gv.

"patate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "pavage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patateaptate · paatte · pataet · patatte · pattae · pattate · ppatate · ptaate
  • pavageapvage · paavge · pavaeg · pavagge · pavgae · pavvage · ppavage · pvaage

Frequency comparison

patate#12,213
pavage#39,448

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "patate" and "pavage" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.tat\ versus \pa.vaʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "patate" or "pavage"?
"patate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,213 in our French list, against #39,448 for "pavage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering patate vs pavage

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “patate” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list