Which to use
“patron” and “piton” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,710
- “patron” frequency rank
- #32,118
- “piton” frequency rank
- 33828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patron | piton |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patricien ou riche plébéien de la Rome antique, qui accordait sa protection à des citoyens plus pauvres constituant sa clientèle. | Sorte de clou ou de vis dont la tête est en forme d’anneau. |
Where the eye mixes patron and piton
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. patron runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against piton's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between patron and piton
A purely visual mix-up. patron (\pa.tʁɔ̃\) and piton (\pi.tɔ̃\) 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 33828, 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\. piton is at rank #32,118, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi.tɔ̃\.
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 33828, this pair ranks #288,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patron vs piton
Shared letters: nopt. Private to "patron": ar. Private to "piton": i.
"patron" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "piton" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "patron" and "piton" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "patron" or "piton"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "patron" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piton" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #288,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patron" and "piton" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs piton". 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 #288,012 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.