Which to use
“patine” and “pine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,301
- “patine” frequency rank
- #25,437
- “pine” frequency rank
- 55738
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patine | pine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vert-de-gris se formant sur les objets en cuivre ou en bronze. | Sexe masculin, membre viril, pénis, phallus, verge, vit. |
Where the eye mixes patine and pine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between patine and pine
A purely visual mix-up. patine (\pa.tin\) and pine (\pin\) 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 55738, 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\. pine is at rank #25,437, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pin\.
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 55738, this pair ranks #125,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patine vs pine
Shared letters: einp. Private to "patine": at. Private to "pine": -.
"patine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "patine" and "pine" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "patine" or "pine"?
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 "pine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patine" and "pine" 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 #125,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.