Which to use
“patates” and “pâtés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,859
- “patates” frequency rank
- #32,137
- “pâtés” frequency rank
- 45996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patates | pâtés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de patate. | Pluriel de pâté. |
Where the eye mixes patates and pâtés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses patates with pâtés
A purely visual mix-up. patates (\pa.tat\) and pâtés (\pɑ.te\) 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 45996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patates is recorded at frequency rank #13,859, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tat\. pâtés is at rank #32,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ.te\.
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 45996, this pair ranks #198,447 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patates vs pâtés
Shared letters: pst. Private to "patates": ae. Private to "pâtés": âé.
"patates" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- patates ← aptates · paattes · pataets · patatess · patatse · patattes · pattaes · pattates
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patates" for "pâtés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "patates" vs "pâtés" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "patates" and "pâtés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pâtés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #198,447 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patates" and "pâtés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâtés vs pètes". 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 #198,447 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.