Which to use
“patte” and “poste” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,206
- “patte” frequency rank
- #695
- “poste” frequency rank
- 10901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | patte | poste |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Établissement de chevaux qui était autrefois placé de distance en distance, pour le service des voyageurs. |
Where the eye mixes patte and poste
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between patte and poste
A purely visual mix-up. patte (\pat\) and poste (\pɔst\) 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 10901, 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\. poste is at rank #695, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔst\.
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 10901, this pair ranks #411,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of patte vs poste
Shared letters: ept. Private to "patte": a. Private to "poste": os.
"patte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "poste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "patte" for "poste" ever safe?
Which is more common, "patte" or "poste"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "patte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "patte" and "poste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pactes vs patte". 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 #411,228 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.