patinagevspâturageConfusable pair

Which to use

“patinage” and “pâturage” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,709
“patinage” frequency rank
#28,311
“pâturage” frequency rank
44020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature patinage pâturage
Definition Sport qui consiste à glisser avec des patins sur la glace, sur un sol uni. Lieu couvert d’herbe où les bestiaux pâturent.

Where the eye mixes patinage and pâturage

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. patinage and pâturage follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
patinage
8 ch
pâturage

Visual trap between patinage and pâturage

A purely visual mix-up. patinage (\pa.ti.naʒ\) and pâturage (\pɑ.ty.ʁaʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

patinage is recorded at frequency rank #15,709, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ti.naʒ\. pâturage is at rank #28,311, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɑ.ty.ʁaʒ\.

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 44020, this pair ranks #213,667 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of patinage vs pâturage

Shared letters: aegpt. Private to "patinage": in. Private to "pâturage": ruâ.

"patinage" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "pâturage" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • patinage ← aptinage · paitnage · patiange · patinaeg · patinagge · patingae · patinnage · patniage

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "patinage" and "pâturage" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.ti.naʒ\ versus \pɑ.ty.ʁaʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "patinage" or "pâturage"?
"patinage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,709 in our French list, against #28,311 for "pâturage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "patinage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pâturage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #213,667 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "patinage" and "pâturage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâturage vs pâture". 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 #213,667 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list