patchsvspâtésConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#35,634
“patchs” frequency rank
#32,137
“pâtés” frequency rank
67771
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patchs pâtés
Definition Pluriel de patch. Pluriel de pâté.

Where the eye mixes patchs and pâtés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
patchs
5 ch
pâtés

Look-alike desk: patchs vs pâtés

A purely visual mix-up. patchs (\patʃ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patchs is recorded at frequency rank #35,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \patʃ\. 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 67771, this pair ranks #61,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of patchs vs pâtés

Shared letters: pst. Private to "patchs": ach. Private to "pâtés": âé.

"patchs" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC  ·  "pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patchsaptchs · pacths · patcchs · patchhs · patchss · patcsh · pathcs · pattchs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "patchs" for "pâtés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\patʃ\ versus \pɑ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "patchs" vs "pâtés" - which ranks higher?
"pâtés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,137 in our French list, against #35,634 for "patchs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patchs" 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 #61,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patchs" 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 #61,997 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