Which to use
“pâture” and “pitre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,495
- “pâture” frequency rank
- #24,326
- “pitre” frequency rank
- 53821
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâture | pitre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nourriture des bêtes, des oiseaux, des poissons. | Acteur populaire chargé d’amuser la foule amassée autour des tréteaux d’un charlatan, par des grimaces et de grosses plaisanteries. |
Where the eye mixes pâture and pitre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pâture with pitre
A purely visual mix-up. pâture (\pa.tyʁ\) and pitre (\pitʁ\) 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 53821, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pâture is recorded at frequency rank #29,495, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tyʁ\. pitre is at rank #24,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pitʁ\.
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 53821, this pair ranks #138,151 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâture vs pitre
Shared letters: eprt. Private to "pâture": uâ. Private to "pitre": i.
"pâture" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "pitre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pitre ← iptre · pirte · piter · pitrre · pittre · ppitre · ptire
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pâture" for "pitre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pâture" or "pitre"?
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 "pâture" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pitre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,151 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâture" and "pitre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parures vs pâture". 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 #138,151 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.