Which to use
“patience” and “patine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,174
- “patience” frequency rank
- #30,301
- “patine” frequency rank
- 34475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patience | patine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vertu qui fait supporter les adversités, les douleurs, les injures, les incommodités, etc. | Vert-de-gris se formant sur les objets en cuivre ou en bronze. |
Where the eye mixes patience and patine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. patience runs 8 letters (CVCVVCCV) against patine's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses patience with patine
A purely visual mix-up. patience (\pa.sjɑ̃s\) and patine (\pa.tin\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patience is recorded at frequency rank #4,174, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.sjɑ̃s\. patine is at rank #30,301, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.tin\.
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 34475, this pair ranks #283,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patience vs patine
Shared letters: aeinpt. Private to "patience": c. Private to "patine": -.
"patience" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV · "patine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "patience" and "patine" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "patience" or "patine" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "patience" and "patine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patience" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patience" and "patine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patine vs piétiné". 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 #283,574 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.