Which to use
“patient” and “patients” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,027
- “patient” frequency rank
- #2,534
- “patients” frequency rank
- 5561
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patient | patients |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui attend et qui persévère avec tranquillité. | Masculin pluriel de patient. |
Same sound, different letters: patient vs patients
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. patient runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against patients's 8 (CVCVVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - patient / patients
This is the hard kind. patient and patients are pronounced identically (\pa.sjɑ̃\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “patient” sits inside “patients”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patient is recorded at frequency rank #3,027, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.sjɑ̃\. patients is at rank #2,534, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.sjɑ̃\.
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 5561, this pair ranks #428,664 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of patient vs patients
Shared letters: aeinpt. Private to "patient": -. Private to "patients": s.
"patient" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "patients" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "patient" and "patients" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "patient" vs "patients" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"patient" and "patients" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "patient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patients" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,664 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patient" and "patients" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patient vs plient". 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 #428,664 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.