Pallet vs palette vs palate
A pallet is the flat platform goods are shipped on. A palette is an artist's board or a set of colors. A palate is the roof of your mouth, and your sense of taste. They sound alike, and two of them even share a history, which is why they get mixed up.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Pallet | A flat platform that goods are stacked on, moved by forklift or pallet jack | The order ships on two pallets. |
| Palette | An artist's board for mixing paint, or a set of colors | The logo uses a warm color palette. |
| Palate | The roof of the mouth, and by extension the sense of taste | The wine is soft on the palate. |
Pallet: the one for shipping
A pallet is the flat wooden, plastic or metal platform that freight is stacked on so a forklift or pallet jack can lift it. It is the word on bills of lading and freight quotes (“2 pallets, 48 × 40 in, 1,200 lb”), and in verbs like palletize. English also has an older, unrelated pallet: a straw mattress or a rough bed on the floor.
Palette: the one for color
A palette is the thin board a painter mixes paint on. From there it came to mean the set of colors in a painting, a brand or a website, and in software a panel of tools. If you are talking about colors or design, it is always palette.
Palate: the one in your mouth
The palate is the roof of the mouth. The word also means the sense of taste: a chef with a good palate, a wine that is dry on the palate. It comes from a different source, the Latin word palātum.
Why pallet and palette look so alike
They are, in a sense, the same word. The shipping pallet was borrowed into English from the French palette, and the artist's palette came from that same French word. English kept two spellings for two meanings. French and German did not: in both languages a shipping pallet is still a palette (German Palette; the Euro pallet is the Europalette). So when “palette” turns up on freight paperwork from Europe, it is usually a translation habit, not a different object.
Using “pallet” correctly in freight
On a quote or bill of lading, give the number of pallets, their footprint and their loaded height and weight, because carriers price by the pallet's density. For the numbers, see standard pallet sizes, how much a pallet weighs and the difference between a skid and a pallet.
Frequently asked questions
Is it pallet or palette for shipping?
Pallet. In English, the platform freight is stacked on is always spelled pallet. Palette is the art word, although in French and German "palette" does mean a shipping pallet.
Is it palate or pallet for taste?
Palate. The palate is the roof of your mouth, and the word also means your sense of taste, as in "a good palate for wine". A pallet is a shipping platform.
What is a palette in your mouth?
There isn't one; the word you want is palate, the roof of the mouth. A palette is an artist's board or a range of colors.
What does palette mean?
A thin board an artist holds to mix paint on, and by extension the range of colors used in a painting, a brand or a design. It is also used for a set of tools in software, such as a tool palette.
How do you remember pallet, palette and palate?
Palate has "ate" in it, like eating. Palette keeps the French "-ette" ending of the art word. That leaves pallet for the plain, practical thing in the warehouse.