patchvspitchWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,274
“patch” frequency rank
#24,719
“pitch” frequency rank
42993
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patch pitch
Definition Section de code que l’on ajoute à un logiciel, pour y apporter des modifications mineures. Angle mesuré entre la direction d’un plan (de stratification par exemple) et une droite (linéation) de ce plan.

Where the eye mixes patch and pitch

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
patch
5 ch
pitch

Why the eye confuses patch with pitch

A purely visual mix-up. patch (\patʃ\) and pitch (\pitʃ\) 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 a single letter - a in “patch” becomes i in “pitch”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patch is recorded at frequency rank #18,274, classified as anoun, pronounced \patʃ\. pitch is at rank #24,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pitʃ\.

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 42993, this pair ranks #221,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patch vs pitch

Shared letters: chpt. Private to "patch": a. Private to "pitch": i.

"patch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "pitch" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patchaptch · pacth · patcch · patchh · pathc · pattch · ppatch · ptach
  • pitchiptch · picth · pitcch · pitchh · pithc · pittch · ppitch · ptich

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "patch" for "pitch" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\patʃ\ versus \pitʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "patch" or "pitch"?
"patch" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,274 in our French list, against #24,719 for "pitch". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "patch" and "pitch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patch" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pitch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #221,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patch" and "pitch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pico vs pitch". 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 #221,407 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list