Which to use
“patine” and “poutine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,301
- “patine” frequency rank
- #4,433
- “poutine” frequency rank
- 34734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patine | poutine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vert-de-gris se formant sur les objets en cuivre ou en bronze. | Mets composé de pommes de terre frites garnies de fromage en grains et arrosées d’une sauce brune chaude, très populaire au Québec. |
Where the eye mixes patine and poutine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: patine vs poutine
A purely visual mix-up. patine (\pa.tin\) and poutine (\pu.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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34734, 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\. poutine is at rank #4,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.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 34734, this pair ranks #281,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patine vs poutine
Shared letters: einpt. Private to "patine": a. Private to "poutine": ou.
"patine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "poutine" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patine" for "poutine" ever safe?
Which is more common, "patine" or "poutine"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "patine" and "poutine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poutine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,767 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patine" and "poutine" 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 #281,767 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.