patience / patients are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term. 👇
patience: (noun) good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence.
patients: (noun) a person who requires medical care.
patience: p·EY·sh·ah·n·s
patients: p·EY·sh·ah·n·t·s
(Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions drawn from WordNet.)