Which to use
“pères” and “portés” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,596
- “pères” frequency rank
- #7,742
- “portés” frequency rank
- 13338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pères | portés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de père. | Pluriel de porté. |
Where the eye mixes pères and portés
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pères 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.
Look-alike desk: pères vs portés
A purely visual mix-up. pères (\pɛʁ\) 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 13338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pères is recorded at frequency rank #5,596, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛʁ\. 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 13338, this pair ranks #401,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pères vs portés
Shared letters: prs. Private to "pères": eè. Private to "portés": oté.
"pères" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "portés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pères" for "portés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pères" vs "portés" - which ranks higher?
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 "pères" 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 #401,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pères" and "portés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pontet vs portés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #401,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.