perdónvsportónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,357
“perdón” frequency rank
#21,795
“portón” frequency rank
23152
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature perdón portón
Definition Acción o resultado de perdonar. Aumentativo de puerta.

Where the eye mixes perdón and portón

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
perdón
6 ch
portón

Why the eye confuses perdón with portón

A purely visual mix-up. perdón ([peɾˈð̞õn]) and portón ([poɾˈt̪õn]) 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 23152, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

perdón is recorded at frequency rank #1,357, classified as anoun, pronounced [peɾˈð̞õn]. portón is at rank #21,795, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poɾˈt̪õn].

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 23152, this pair ranks #247,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of perdón vs portón

Shared letters: npró. Private to "perdón": de. Private to "portón": ot.

"perdón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "portón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "perdón" for "portón" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([peɾˈð̞õn] versus [poɾˈt̪õn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "perdón" vs "portón" - which ranks higher?
"perdón" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,357 in our Spanish list, against #21,795 for "portón". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "perdón" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "portón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,138 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "perdón" and "portón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "porotos vs portón". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #247,138 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