Which to use
“patron” and “pétrin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,710
- “patron” frequency rank
- #34,706
- “pétrin” frequency rank
- 36416
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patron | pétrin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patricien ou riche plébéien de la Rome antique, qui accordait sa protection à des citoyens plus pauvres constituant sa clientèle. | Coffre ou machine dans lesquels on pétrit le pain. |
Where the eye mixes patron and pétrin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. patron and pétrin follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses patron with pétrin
A purely visual mix-up. patron (\pa.tʁɔ̃\) and pétrin (\pe.tʁɛ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patron is recorded at frequency rank #1,710, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tʁɔ̃\. pétrin is at rank #34,706, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pe.tʁɛ̃\.
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 36416, this pair ranks #269,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patron vs pétrin
Shared letters: nprt. Private to "patron": ao. Private to "pétrin": ié.
"patron" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "pétrin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- patron ← aptron · parton · patorn · patrno · patronn · patrron · pattron · ppatron
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patron" for "pétrin" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "patron" or "pétrin" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "patron" and "pétrin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patron" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pétrin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patron" and "pétrin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pétrin vs purin". 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 #269,766 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.