Which to use
“patate” and “platane” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,213
- “patate” frequency rank
- #43,070
- “platane” frequency rank
- 55283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patate | platane |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patate douce (plante). | Genre de platanacées, grands arbres dont l’écorce se fissure en écailles (rhytidomes) laissant apparaître le liège par zones, à grandes feuilles caduques alternes et lobées, et dont les fruits sont des akènes, généralement velus réunis en boules pendantes. |
Where the eye mixes patate and platane
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. patate runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against platane's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses patate with platane
A purely visual mix-up. patate (\pa.tat\) and platane (\pla.tan\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55283, 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\. platane is at rank #43,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pla.tan\.
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 55283, this pair ranks #128,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patate vs platane
Shared letters: aept. Private to "patate": -. Private to "platane": ln.
"patate" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "platane" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patate" for "platane" ever safe?
Which is more common, "patate" or "platane"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "patate" and "platane" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "platane" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #128,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patate" and "platane" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaigne 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 #128,429 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.