Which to use
“patron” and “plastron” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,710
- “patron” frequency rank
- #48,107
- “plastron” frequency rank
- 49817
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patron | plastron |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Patricien ou riche plébéien de la Rome antique, qui accordait sa protection à des citoyens plus pauvres constituant sa clientèle. | Pièce de la cuirasse qui protège la poitrine. |
Where the eye mixes patron and plastron
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. patron runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against plastron's 8 (CCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between patron and plastron
A purely visual mix-up. patron (\pa.tʁɔ̃\) and plastron (\plas.tʁɔ̃\) 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 49817, 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\. plastron is at rank #48,107, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plas.tʁɔ̃\.
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 49817, this pair ranks #167,651 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patron vs plastron
Shared letters: anoprt. Private to "patron": -. Private to "plastron": ls.
"patron" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "plastron" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patron" for "plastron" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "patron" or "plastron" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "patron" and "plastron" 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 "plastron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,651 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patron" and "plastron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plastron vs Platon". 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 #167,651 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.