Palate vs. Palette vs. Pallet

English can be a wonderfully confusing language. We have so many homophones—words that sound alike but differ in spelling, meaning, or derivation. Homophones can trip up even native speakers and writers who are otherwise excellent spellers. Take, for example, palate, palette, and pallet. These similar-sounding words hit the homophone trifecta: They differ in spelling, meaning, and derivation.

Palate refers to the roof of the mouth, the sense of taste, or a taste or liking. The word comes to us from Middle English and the Latin palatum, meaning “the roof of the mouth.”

A palette is a thin handheld board that a painter uses to mix paints on. It can also refer to the colors on the palette. The word comes to us from French and Middle French and literally means “little spade.” The French borrowed their word pale (“spade”) from the Latin pala (“spade”).

A pallet is a straw-filled mattress or temporary bed. This word has worked its way through Middle English, Anglo-French, and ultimately from the Latin palea, meaning “chaff, straw.” In case this isn’t confusing enough yet, pallet can also mean (among other things) a portable platform for handling, storing, and moving materials. If you’ve shopped at a warehouse store, you’ve seen plenty of wooden pallets. This meaning comes from the French palette (see above), meaning “small shovel.”

Definitions from Merriam-Webster.