portablevsPortalenWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: portable is a adjective, Portalen is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“portable” is an adjective and “Portalen” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,391
“portable” frequency rank
#25,710
“Portalen” frequency rank
74101
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature portable Portalen
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs portabel Dativ Plural des Substantivs Portal

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set portable and Portalen apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
portable
8 ch
Portalen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: portable is [pɔʁˈtaːblə] while Portalen is [pɔʁˈtaːlən]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74101, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

portable is recorded at frequency rank #48,391, classified as anadj, pronounced [pɔʁˈtaːblə]. Portalen is at rank #25,710, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɔʁˈtaːlən].

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 74101, this pair ranks #342,366 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of portable vs Portalen

Shared letters: aeloprt. Private to "portable": b. Private to "Portalen": n.

"portable" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "Portalen" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portableoprtable · poratble · porrtable · portabble · portabel · portablle · portalbe · portbale
  • Portalenoprtalen · poratlen · porrtalen · portaeln · portalenn · portallen · portalne · portlaen

Frequency comparison

portable#48,391
Portalen#25,710

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "portable" and "Portalen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "portable" is an adjective and "Portalen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "portable" or "Portalen"?
"Portalen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,710 in our German list, against #48,391 for "portable". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering portable vs Portalen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “portable”; for a noun, it's “Portalen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “portable” 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