Which to use
“portaban” is a verb and “portada” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,762
- “portaban” frequency rank
- #3,648
- “portada” frequency rank
- 40410
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portaban | portada |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de portar. | Página de un libro donde, generalmente, aparecen el nombre del autor, el título del libro y la editorial. |
Where the eye mixes portaban and portada
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. portaban runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against portada's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between portaban and portada
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: portaban is [poɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn] while portada is [poɾˈt̪að̞a]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portaban is recorded at frequency rank #36,762, classified as averb, pronounced [poɾˈt̪aβ̞ãn]. portada is at rank #3,648, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poɾˈt̪að̞a].
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 40410, this pair ranks #159,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of portaban vs portada
Shared letters: aoprt. Private to "portaban": bn. Private to "portada": d.
"portaban" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "portada" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portaban" for "portada" ever safe?
Frequency check: "portaban" vs "portada" - which ranks higher?
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 "portaban" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portada" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #159,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portaban" and "portada" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paraban vs portaban". 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 #159,233 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.