portavsproaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,734
“porta” frequency rank
#17,252
“proa” frequency rank
27986
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature porta proa
Definition Cada una de las aberturas, a modo de ventanas, que se practican en los costados y en la popa de los buques, para dar luz y ventilación al interior de los mismos, para verificar su carga y descarga y muy principalmente para el juego de la artillería. Extremo delantero de una embarcación.

Where the eye mixes porta and proa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
porta
4 ch
proa

Look-alike desk: porta vs proa

A purely visual mix-up. porta ([ˈpoɾt̪a]) and proa ([ˈpɾoa]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

porta is recorded at frequency rank #10,734, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoɾt̪a]. proa is at rank #17,252, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpɾoa].

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 27986, this pair ranks #224,216 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of porta vs proa

Shared letters: aopr. Private to "porta": t. Private to "proa": -.

"porta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "proa" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portaoprta · porat · porrta · portta · potra · pporta · prota
  • proapora · pproa · prroa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "porta" and "proa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpoɾt̪a] versus [ˈpɾoa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "porta" vs "proa" - which ranks higher?
"porta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,734 in our Spanish list, against #17,252 for "proa". 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 "porta" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #224,216 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "porta" and "proa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proa vs probo". 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 #224,216 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