portée

\pɔ.ʁte\

/\pɔ.ʁte\/ noun

The verdict

“portée” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,010 in French word frequency and used as a noun.

#2,010
frequency rank, French
6
letters
9
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Totalité des petits que les femelles des vivipares portent et mettent bas en une fois.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

portée vs pote
67% similar
portée vs poste
67% similar
portée vs potes
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for portée
PropertyValue
Headwordportée
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pɔ.ʁte\
Letters6
Frequency rank#2,010
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “portée” sits in French frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). portée lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for portée is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pɔ.ʁte\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,010 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for portée, with forms such as "oprtée", "porrtée", and "portee". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pote", "poste", "potes", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is portée, spelled P-O-R-T-É-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Totalité des petits que les femelles des vivipares portent et mettent bas en une fois.
  2. 2
    Distance à laquelle quelque chose peut porter, peut atteindre. Il se dit spécialement en parlant des armes de tir.
  3. 3
    Se dit également en parlant de la voix, de la vue, de l’ouïe. On dit plutôt aujourd’hui : à portée de.
  4. 4
    Ce que peut faire, ce que peut concevoir, produire, exécuter l’esprit d’une personne.
  5. 5
    Ce que peut faire une personne par rapport à sa naissance, à sa fortune, à sa position.
  6. 6
    Force, valeur, ou importance d’un raisonnement, d’une expression, etc.
  7. 7
    Partie d’un taillis la plus haute où le bois du cerf laisse des traces, en faisant plier des branches.
  8. 8
    Longueur libre d’une pierre, d’une pièce de bois, etc., placée horizontalement dans une construction, et soutenue par un ou plusieurs points d’appui.
  9. 9
    Partie d’une pierre ou d’une pièce de charpente ainsi placée, qui porte sur le mur, sur un pilier, etc.
  10. 10
    Les cinq lignes parallèles sur lesquelles ou entre lesquelles s’inscrivent les notes.
  11. 11
    Étendue d’une variable : publique, privée ou protégée.
  12. 12
    À la pétanque, envoi très haut de la boule pour qu’elle retombe presque à la verticale, à moins de deux mètres de l’emplacement idéal pour marquer un point.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: oprtée,porrtée,portee,porteé,porttée,poréte,potrée,pportée,protée

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of portée - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

oprtée2porrtée1portee1porteé2porttée1poréte2potrée2pportée1
Edit distance from "portée"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "portée"?
"portée" is spelled P-O-R-T-É-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pɔ.ʁte\.
What does "portée" mean?
As a noun, "portée" means: Totalité des petits que les femelles des vivipares portent et mettent bas en une fois.
What words are commonly confused with "portée"?
"portée" is commonly confused with "pote", "poste", "potes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "portée"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "portée" is \pɔ.ʁte\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "portée" come from?
"portée" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “portée”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct French spelling is P-O-R-T-É-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as \pɔ.ʁte\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “pote” - see the side-by-side comparison. portée vs pote
  • Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list