Which to use
“pâtés” and “portés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,137
- “pâtés” frequency rank
- #7,742
- “portés” frequency rank
- 39879
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pâtés | portés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pâté. | Pluriel de porté. |
Where the eye mixes pâtés and portés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pâtés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against portés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pâtés with portés
A purely visual mix-up. pâtés (\pɑ.te\) and portés (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39879, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pâtés is recorded at frequency rank #32,137, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ.te\. portés is at rank #7,742, tagged as anoun, 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 39879, this pair ranks #244,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pâtés vs portés
Shared letters: psté. Private to "pâtés": â. Private to "portés": or.
"pâtés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "portés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pâtés" and "portés" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pâtés" vs "portés" - which ranks higher?
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 "pâtés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #244,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pâtés" and "portés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pâtés vs pètes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #244,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.