Which to use
“Portugal” is a name and “Portugals” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,549
- “Portugal” frequency rank
- #31,220
- “Portugals” frequency rank
- 35769
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Portugal | Portugals |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Staat in Südwesteuropa auf der Iberischen Halbinsel | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Portugal |
Where the eye mixes Portugal and Portugals
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. Portugal runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against Portugals's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Portugal with Portugals
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Portugal is [ˈpɔʁtuɡal] while Portugals is [ˈpɔʁtuɡals]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Portugal” sits inside “Portugals”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35769, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Portugal is recorded at frequency rank #4,549, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈpɔʁtuɡal]. Portugals is at rank #31,220, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɔʁtuɡals].
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 35769, this pair ranks #1,631,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Portugal vs Portugals
Shared letters: agloprtu. Private to "Portugal": -. Private to "Portugals": s.
"Portugal" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "Portugals" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Portugal" and "Portugals" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "Portugal" or "Portugals" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Portugal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Portugals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,631,969 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Portugal" and "Portugals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Portals vs Portugals". 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 #1,631,969 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.