pactadovsportadoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“pactado” and “portado” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,335
“pactado” frequency rank
#28,511
“portado” frequency rank
46846
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pactado portado
Definition Participio de pactar. Participio de portar o de portarse.

Where the eye mixes pactado and portado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pactado and portado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
pactado
7 ch
portado

Why the eye confuses pactado with portado

A purely visual mix-up. pactado ([pakˈt̪að̞o]) and portado ([poɾˈt̪að̞o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pactado is recorded at frequency rank #18,335, classified as averb, pronounced [pakˈt̪að̞o]. portado is at rank #28,511, tagged as averb, pronounced [poɾˈt̪að̞o].

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 46846, this pair ranks #123,402 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pactado vs portado

Shared letters: adopt. Private to "pactado": c. Private to "portado": r.

"pactado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "portado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pactado ← apctado · pacatdo · pacctado · pactaddo · pactaod · pactdao · pacttado · patcado
  • portado ← oprtado · poratdo · porrtado · portaddo · portaod · portdao · porttado · potrado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "pactado" for "portado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([pakˈt̪að̞o] versus [poɾˈt̪að̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pactado" vs "portado" - which ranks higher?
"pactado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,335 in our Spanish list, against #28,511 for "portado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pactado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "portado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,402 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pactado" and "portado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "portado vs posado". 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 #123,402 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list