pórticovsportilloTell them apart

Which to use

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

#26,198
“pórtico” frequency rank
#18,351
“portillo” frequency rank
44549
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pórtico portillo
Definition Sitio cubierto y con columnas que se construye delante de los templos u otros edificios suntuosos. Hueco en una dentadura que se produce cuando se quita un diente, en especial, una muela.

Where the eye mixes pórtico and portillo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pórtico runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against portillo's 8 (CVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
pórtico
8 ch
portillo

Why the eye confuses pórtico with portillo

A purely visual mix-up. pórtico ([ˈpoɾt̪iko]) and portillo ([poɾˈt̪iʝo]) 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 44549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pórtico is recorded at frequency rank #26,198, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈpoɾt̪iko]. portillo is at rank #18,351, tagged as anoun, pronounced [poɾˈt̪iʝo].

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 44549, this pair ranks #136,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pórtico vs portillo

Shared letters: ioprt. Private to "pórtico": có. Private to "portillo": l.

"pórtico" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "portillo" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portillo ← oprtillo · poritllo · porrtillo · portilo · portilol · portlilo · porttillo · potrillo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pórtico" and "portillo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈpoɾt̪iko] versus [poɾˈt̪iʝo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pórtico" or "portillo"?
"portillo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,351 in our Spanish list, against #26,198 for "pórtico". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pórtico" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "portillo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,441 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pórtico" and "portillo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "portazo vs pórtico". 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 #136,441 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