partirvsporterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#275
“partir” frequency rank
#883
“porter” frequency rank
1158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partir porter
Definition Tirer son origine, avoir son commencement, avoir pour point de départ. Soutenir quelque chose ou quelqu’un.

Where the eye mixes partir and porter

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

6 ch
partir
6 ch
porter

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. partir (\paʁ.tiʁ\) and porter (\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 1158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partir is recorded at frequency rank #275, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁ.tiʁ\. porter is at rank #883, 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 1158, this pair ranks #438,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of partir vs porter

Shared letters: prt. Private to "partir": ai. Private to "porter": eo.

"partir" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "porter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partiraprtir · paritr · parrtir · partirr · partri · parttir · patrir · ppartir
  • porteroprter · poretr · porrter · porterr · portre · portter · potrer · pporter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "partir" and "porter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\paʁ.tiʁ\ versus \pɔʁ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "partir" or "porter"?
"partir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #275 in our French list, against #883 for "porter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "partir" and "porter". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "partir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "porter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #438,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "partir" and "porter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pontet vs porter". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list