Which to use
“patent” is an adjective and “pâtés” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,663
- “patent” frequency rank
- #32,137
- “pâtés” frequency rank
- 66800
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patent | pâtés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Clair, manifeste, qui est évident. | Pluriel de pâté. |
Where the eye mixes patent and pâtés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. patent runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against pâtés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between patent and pâtés
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: patent is \pa.tɑ̃\ while pâtés is \pɑ.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patent is recorded at frequency rank #34,663, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.tɑ̃\. 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 66800, this pair ranks #66,190 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of patent vs pâtés
Shared letters: pt. Private to "patent": aen. Private to "pâtés": sâé.
"patent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- patent ← aptent · paetnt · patennt · patentt · patetn · patnet · pattent · ppatent
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patent" for "pâtés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "patent" vs "pâtés" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "patent" and "pâtés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patent" 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 #66,190 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patent" 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 #66,190 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.