PortionvsPortionenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Portion” and “Portionen” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#8,924
“Portion” frequency rank
#19,344
“Portionen” frequency rank
28268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Portion Portionen
Definition bestimmte Menge Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Portion

Where the eye mixes Portion and Portionen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
Portion
9 ch
Portionen

Visual trap between Portion and Portionen

A purely visual mix-up. Portion ([pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːn]) and Portionen ([pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːnən]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “Portion” sits inside “Portionen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Portion is recorded at frequency rank #8,924, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːn]. Portionen is at rank #19,344, tagged as anoun, pronounced [pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːnən].

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 28268, this pair ranks #1,787,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Portion vs Portionen

Shared letters: inoprt. Private to "Portion": -. Private to "Portionen": e.

"Portion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "Portionen" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Portionoprtion · poriton · porrtion · portino · portionn · portoin · porttion · potrion
  • Portionenoprtionen · poritonen · porrtionen · portinoen · portioenn · portionenn · portionne · portionnen

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Portion" for "Portionen" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːn] versus [pɔʁˈt͡si̯oːnən]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Portion" vs "Portionen" - which ranks higher?
"Portion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,924 in our German list, against #19,344 for "Portionen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Portion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Portionen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,787,754 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Portion" and "Portionen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Portionen vs Positionen". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #1,787,754 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list