Which to use
“pâtés” is a noun and “près” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,137
- “pâtés” frequency rank
- #294
- “près” frequency rank
- 32431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâtés | près |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pâté. | À petite distance, à proximité. |
Where the eye mixes pâtés and près
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pâtés vs près
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pâtés is \pɑ.te\ while près is \pʁɛ\. 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 (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32431, 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\. près is at rank #294, tagged as anadv, pronounced \pʁɛ\.
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 32431, this pair ranks #297,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâtés vs près
Shared letters: ps. Private to "pâtés": tâé. Private to "près": rè.
"pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "près" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pâtés" and "près" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pâtés" or "près"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pâtés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "près" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâtés" and "près" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâtés vs pètes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #297,340 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.