Is PATES a Wordle Word?

Yes. PATES is a valid Wordle word.

It is not on the Wordle answer list, so it is unlikely to be a daily answer.

Plurals ending in S are almost never chosen as Wordle answers.

What does PATES mean?

(somewhat obsolete) The head, particularly the top or crown.“He had a shiny, bald pate.”
Wit, cleverness, cognitive abilities.

The interior body, or non-rind portion of cheese, described by its texture, density, and color.

A finely-ground paste of meat, fish or vegetables, sometimes with the addition of alcohol.

Definition from Wiktionary, available under the CC BY-SA license.

Starter word rating: GoodIn the top 5% of all valid Wordle words for testing common letters.
Vowels: A, E
Unique letters: 5 of 5
Common letters: A, T, E

Hard-mode trap: 13 valid words fit the pattern _ATES. If you reach it, you may need several guesses to find the last letter.

Letter ratings use how often each letter appears in Wordle answers.

Tap its tiles to the colours Wordle showed, and the Wordle Solver lists every word that still fits, with the best next guess.