parlezvsportezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,785
“parlez” frequency rank
#11,638
“portez” frequency rank
15423
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature parlez portez
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de parler. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de porter.

Where the eye mixes parlez and portez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
parlez
6 ch
portez

Why the eye confuses parlez with portez

A purely visual mix-up. parlez (\paʁ.le\) and portez (\pɔʁ.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15423, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

parlez is recorded at frequency rank #3,785, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.le\. portez is at rank #11,638, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɔʁ.te\.

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 15423, this pair ranks #392,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of parlez vs portez

Shared letters: eprz. Private to "parlez": al. Private to "portez": ot.

"parlez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "portez" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • parlezaprlez · palrez · parelz · parlezz · parllez · parlze · parrlez · pparlez
  • portezoprtez · poretz · porrtez · portezz · porttez · portze · potrez · pportez

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "parlez" for "portez" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\paʁ.le\ versus \pɔʁ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "parlez" vs "portez" - which ranks higher?
"parlez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,785 in our French list, against #11,638 for "portez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "parlez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "portez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,433 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "parlez" and "portez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pontet vs portez". 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 #392,433 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list