platavsportaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: plata is a adjective, porta is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“plata” is an adjective and “porta” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,388
“plata” frequency rank
#20,373
“porta” frequency rank
68761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plata porta
Definition silbern; versilbert 3. Person Singular Indikativ historisches Perfekt Aktiv des Verbs porter

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set plata and porta apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
plata
5 ch
porta

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plata is [ˈplata] while porta is [pɔʁ.ta]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plata is recorded at frequency rank #48,388, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈplata]. porta is at rank #20,373, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɔʁ.ta].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 68761, this pair ranks #497,647 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of plata vs porta

Shared letters: apt. Private to "plata": l. Private to "porta": or.

"plata" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "porta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • platalpata · palta · plaat · platta · pllata · pltaa · pplata
  • portaoprta · porat · porrta · portta · potra · pporta · prota

Frequency comparison

plata#48,388
porta#20,373

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plata" and "porta" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "plata" is an adjective and "porta" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "plata" or "porta"?
"porta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,373 in our German list, against #48,388 for "plata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering plata vs porta

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “plata”; for a verb, it's “porta”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “plata” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list