Which to use
“patente” and “patience” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,949
- “patente” frequency rank
- #4,174
- “patience” frequency rank
- 37123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patente | patience |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brevet émanant d’une autorité établissant un droit, un titre ou un privilège. | Vertu qui fait supporter les adversités, les douleurs, les injures, les incommodités, etc. |
Where the eye mixes patente and patience
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses patente with patience
A purely visual mix-up. patente (\pa.tɑ̃t\) and patience (\pa.sjɑ̃s\) 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 37123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patente is recorded at frequency rank #32,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tɑ̃t\. patience is at rank #4,174, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.sjɑ̃s\.
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 37123, this pair ranks #264,722 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patente vs patience
Shared letters: aenpt. Private to "patente": -. Private to "patience": ci.
"patente" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "patience" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patente" for "patience" ever safe?
Frequency check: "patente" vs "patience" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "patente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patience" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,722 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patente" and "patience" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Papeete vs patente". 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 #264,722 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.