Which to use
“port” is a noun and “pos” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,913
- “port” frequency rank
- #11,268
- “pos” frequency rank
- 13181
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | port | pos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A place on the coast at which ships can shelter, or dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. | Clipping of positive. |
Where the eye mixes port and pos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: port is /pɔːt/ while pos is /pɒz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
port is recorded at frequency rank #1,913, classified as anoun, pronounced /pɔːt/. pos is at rank #11,268, tagged as anadj, pronounced /pɒz/.
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 13181, this pair ranks #477,327 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of port vs pos
Shared letters: op. Private to "port": rt. Private to "pos": s.
"port" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pos" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- port ← oprt · porrt · portt · potr · pport