Which to use
“pâtés” and “pentes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,137
- “pâtés” frequency rank
- #12,832
- “pentes” frequency rank
- 44969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâtés | pentes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pâté. | Pluriel de pente. |
Where the eye mixes pâtés and pentes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pâtés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against pentes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pâtés with pentes
A purely visual mix-up. pâtés (\pɑ.te\) and pentes (\pɑ̃t\) 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 44969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pâtés is recorded at frequency rank #32,137, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ.te\. pentes is at rank #12,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃t\.
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 44969, this pair ranks #206,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâtés vs pentes
Shared letters: pst. Private to "pâtés": âé. Private to "pentes": en.
"pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "pentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pentes ← epntes · penets · penntes · pentess · pentse · penttes · petnes · pnetes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pâtés" and "pentes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pâtés" or "pentes"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pâtés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,426 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâtés" and "pentes" 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 #206,426 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.