Which to use
“portaba” is a verb and “portadas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,192
- “portaba” frequency rank
- #12,223
- “portadas” frequency rank
- 42415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portaba | portadas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de portar o de portarse. | Forma del femenino plural de portado, participio de portar o de portarse. |
Where the eye mixes portaba and portadas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. portaba runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against portadas's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between portaba and portadas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: portaba is [poɾˈt̪aβ̞a] while portadas is [poɾˈt̪að̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portaba is recorded at frequency rank #30,192, classified as averb, pronounced [poɾˈt̪aβ̞a]. portadas is at rank #12,223, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [poɾˈt̪að̞as].
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 42415, this pair ranks #148,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of portaba vs portadas
Shared letters: aoprt. Private to "portaba": b. Private to "portadas": ds.
"portaba" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "portadas" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portaba" for "portadas" ever safe?
Frequency check: "portaba" vs "portadas" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "portaba" and "portadas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "portaba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portadas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portaba" and "portadas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "portaba vs portazo". 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 #148,331 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.