portionvsPortmanWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: portion is a noun, Portman is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“portion” is a noun and “Portman” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,848
“portion” frequency rank
#26,920
“Portman” frequency rank
29768
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature portion Portman
Definition An allocated amount. A surname originating as an occupation.

Letter map: portion vs Portman

Shared letters muted; letters that set portion and Portman apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
portion
7 ch
Portman

Role in the sentence - portion and Portman

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: portion is anoun and Portmananame. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

portion is recorded at frequency rank #2,848, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpoɹʃən/. Portman is at rank #26,920, tagged as aname.

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 29768, this pair ranks #360,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of portion vs Portman

Shared letters: noprt. Private to "portion": i. Private to "Portman": am.

"portion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "Portman" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portionoprtion · poriton · porrtion · porsion · portino · portionn · portoin · porttion
  • Portmanoprtman · pormtan · porrtman · portamn · portmann · portmman · portmna · porttman

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "portion" for "Portman" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "portion" is a noun and "Portman" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "portion" vs "Portman" - which ranks higher?
"portion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,848 in our English list, against #26,920 for "Portman". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "portion" and "Portman". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "portion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Portman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #360,201 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "portion" and "Portman" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pitman vs Portman". 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 #360,201 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list