Sound-alike words
Patience vs. Patients
Patience is a noun for the ability to wait calmly or stay calm when things go wrong. Patients is the plural of patient: people receiving medical care. The nurse showed great patience with her patients.
| Word | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| patience | noun | the ability to wait, or to deal with delays and problems, without getting upset |
| patients | noun | people who receive care from a doctor, nurse, dentist or other health worker |
Patience
noun: the ability to wait, or to deal with delays and problems, without getting upset
- Learning to knit takes a lot of patience.
- Sam lost patience after an hour on hold.
Patients
noun: people who receive care from a doctor, nurse, dentist or other health worker
- The clinic sees about forty patients a day.
- The dentist always explains things to her patients before starting.
How to remember the difference
Patients are people, more than one patient, so the word ends in an S. Patience ends in -ce, as in calm.
Good to know
Patient is also an adjective meaning calm and willing to wait, as in be patient with the puppy. In British English, patience is also the name of the card game Americans call solitaire.
Spot the mistake
Thank you for your
patientspatience while we fix the website.Correct: Thank you for your patience while we fix the website.
The doctor has three more
patiencepatients to see before lunch.Correct: The doctor has three more patients to see before lunch.
Check yourself
Pick the word that fits each sentence.
1. Waiting for bread dough to rise takes .
Answer: patience. This is the ability to wait calmly, so the word is patience.
2. The new hospital wing can hold fifty .
Answer: patients. These are people getting care, so the plural noun patients fits.