porter
/ˈpɔɹtɚ/
"porter" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“porter” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #7,375 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,375
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who carries luggage and related objects.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | porter |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈpɔɹtɚ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #7,375 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “porter” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for porter is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɔɹtɚ/. Corpus data places it at rank #7,375 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for porter, with forms such as "oprter", "poretr", and "porrter". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "power", "ports", "Porto", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English porter, portere, portier, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French porteor, from Late Latin portātor, from past participle of Latin portāre (“to carry”). By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -er. The correct English form is porter, spelled P-O-R-T-E-R.
Definition
- 1A person who carries luggage and related objects.
- 2An ant having the specialized role of carrying.
- 3One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).
Etymology
From Middle English porter, portere, portier, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French porteor, from Late Latin portātor, from past participle of Latin portāre (“to carry”). By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -er.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: oprter,poretr,porrter,porterr,portre,portter,potrer,pporter,proter
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of porter - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “porter”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-R-T-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈpɔɹtɚ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “power” - see the side-by-side comparison. porter vs power
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.