pâté, pate

Pâté or pâté ( pronounced pah tay ) is a French word that means food made into a paste--
We started with pâté, then we had soup, then a roast.
Many people refuse to eat pâté made from goose liver.

Pate or pate ( rhymes with "ate" ) is an old-fashioned word for "head" or "brain"--
He took a nasty knock on his pate, but he seems okay.
His old pate seemed too rusty to figure out what was going on.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"He slipped, and his pate hit the tray of  pâté the waiter was holding."

Note--"pâte" ( rhymes with "pat" ) is a French word, meaning paste or dough--
We will fill the cream puffs with pâte, and top them with chocolate shavings.

Note# 2--"patty", in American cooking, means something made into a flat, usually round shape--
If you put a beef patty on the grill, it will cook in about five minutes. 

patty, paddy

Patty or patty means a flattened cake or loaf, as of ground meat or vegetables--
Form the mixture into a patty and fry it in hot oil.
Put some foil between each hamburger patty, so they won't stick.

Paddy or paddy means a rice field, or less commonly, uncut rice--
They will spend weeks harvesting the rice paddy.
She took some lovely photographs of the sun setting over a rice paddy.

Now that you know that, you can say--
"We got some rice fresh from the paddy, added eggs and flour to make a patty, and baked it in the oven."

Note--not to be confused with "Patty", a nickname for "Patricia"--
Does Patty still want to try out for the team?
Or with "Paddy", a nickname for Patrick--
How long will Paddy be staying?
Note # 2--"Patsy" is also a nickname for Patricia--
Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Patsy Cline!
Not to be confused with "patsy", meaning a dupe or scapegoat--
They are looking for a patsy to take the blame for their scam.