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portland

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

8 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

Wiktionary

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "portland", 8-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "portland" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "portland" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

Portland is aEnglishname. It means: The largest city in Oregon, United States and the county seat of Multnomah County; named for the city in Maine. Pronounced /ˈpɔːtlənd/. It ranks #5,348 in English word frequency. Often confused with Portman and Poland.

Key facts for Portland
PropertyValue
HeadwordPortland
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechName
IPA/ˈpɔːtlənd/
Letters8
Frequency rank#5,348
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of Portland in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for Portland is 8 letters long, classified as aname, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈpɔːtlənd/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,348 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 33 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 13 documented wrong-spelling variants for Portland, with forms such as "oprtland", "porltand", and "porrtland". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Portman", "Poland", "parkland", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old English Portland, equivalent to port + land. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is Portland, spelled P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The largest city in Oregon, United States and the county seat of Multnomah County; named for the city in Maine.
  2. 2
    The largest city in Maine, United States and the county seat of Cumberland County; named for the Isle of Portland.
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    A civil parish with a town council on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England, a tied island in the English Channel.
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    A locale in Australia:
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    A locale in Australia:
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    A community in Rideau Lakes township, Ontario, Canada; named for the 3rd Duke of Portland.
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    A townland in County Tipperary, Ireland.
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    A parish of Jamaica.
  32. 32
    A locality near Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand; named for the local Portland cement industry.
  33. 33
    A sea area between the Isle of Portland and the coast of France.

Etymology

From Old English Portland, equivalent to port + land.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: oprtland,porltand,porrtland,portalnd,portladn,portlandd,portlannd,portlland,portlnad,porttland,potrland,pportland,protland

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for Portland

Misspelling Variants of "Portland"

oprtland8porltand8porrtland9portalnd8portladn8portlandd9portlannd9portlland9
Misspelling Variants of "Portland"

Frequency rank: #5,348 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Portland"?
"Portland" is spelled P-O-R-T-L-A-N-D. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈpɔːtlənd/.
What does "Portland" mean?
As a name, "Portland" means: The largest city in Oregon, United States and the county seat of Multnomah County; named for the city in Maine.
What words are commonly confused with "Portland"?
"Portland" is commonly confused with "Portman", "Poland", "parkland". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Portland"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Portland" is /ˈpɔːtlənd/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "Portland"?
From Old English Portland, equivalent to port + land. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter P in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.