parée vs portée, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“parée” and “portée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,632
“parée” frequency rank: #2,010
“portée” frequency rank: 37642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	parée	portée
Definition	Partie d'un fourneau de forge.	Totalité des petits que les femelles des vivipares portent et mettent bas en une fois.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set parée and portée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

parée

6 ch

portée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. parée (\pa.ʁe\) and portée (\pɔ.ʁte\) 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 37642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parée is recorded at frequency rank #35,632, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁe\. portée is at rank #2,010, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ʁte\.

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 37642, this pair ranks #261,038 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of parée vs portée

Shared letters: epré. Private to "parée": a. Private to "portée": ot.

"parée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "portée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

parée#35,632

portée#2,010

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "parée" and "portée" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\pa.ʁe\ versus \pɔ.ʁte\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "parée" or "portée"?

"portée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,010 in our French list, against #35,632 for "parée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering parée vs portée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “parée” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable