Which to use
“depart” and “deport” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,679
- “depart” frequency rank
- #22,948
- “deport” frequency rank
- 34627
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | depart | deport |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To leave. | To comport (oneself); to behave. |
Where the eye mixes depart and deport
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. depart and deport follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: depart vs deport
A purely visual mix-up. depart (/dɪˈpɑːt/) and deport (/dɪˈpɔɹt/) 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 a single letter - a in “depart” becomes o in “deport”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
depart is recorded at frequency rank #11,679, classified as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɑːt/. deport is at rank #22,948, tagged as averb, pronounced /dɪˈpɔɹt/.
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 34627, this pair ranks #319,144 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of depart vs deport
Shared letters: deprt. Private to "depart": a. Private to "deport": o.
"depart" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "deport" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "depart" for "deport" ever safe?
Which is more common, "depart" or "deport"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "depart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "deport" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,144 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "depart" and "deport" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "deport vs depose". 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 #319,144 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.