Which to use
“patine” is a noun and “patiner” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,301
- “patine” frequency rank
- #36,090
- “patiner” frequency rank
- 66391
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patine | patiner |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vert-de-gris se formant sur les objets en cuivre ou en bronze. | Glisser sur la glace, sur un sol uni, avec des patins. |
Where the eye mixes patine and patiner
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. patine runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against patiner's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: patine vs patiner
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: patine is \pa.tin\ while patiner is \pa.ti.ne\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “patine” sits inside “patiner”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patine is recorded at frequency rank #30,301, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tin\. patiner is at rank #36,090, tagged as averb, pronounced \pa.ti.ne\.
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 66391, this pair ranks #68,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of patine vs patiner
Shared letters: aeinpt. Private to "patine": -. Private to "patiner": r.
"patine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "patiner" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patine" for "patiner" ever safe?
Frequency check: "patine" vs "patiner" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "patine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "patiner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patine" and "patiner" 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 #68,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.