Which to use
“patte” and “pattern” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,206
- “patte” frequency rank
- #39,446
- “pattern” frequency rank
- 49652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patte | pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Membre d’un animal quadrupède, d’un oiseau (à l’exception des oiseaux de proie), des arthropodes comme l’écrevisse, le homard, l’araignée, la mouche, etc. | Motif graphique reproductible. |
Where the eye mixes patte and pattern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: patte vs pattern
A purely visual mix-up. patte (\pat\) and pattern (\pa.tɛʁn\) 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 extra letter(s) - “patte” sits inside “pattern”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
patte is recorded at frequency rank #10,206, classified as anoun, pronounced \pat\. pattern is at rank #39,446, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.tɛʁn\.
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 49652, this pair ranks #168,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of patte vs pattern
Shared letters: aept. Private to "patte": -. Private to "pattern": nr.
"patte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "pattern" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "patte" and "pattern" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "patte" or "pattern" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "patte" and "pattern" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "patte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pattern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #168,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patte" and "pattern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pattern vs patterns". 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 #168,897 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.