Persée vs portée, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“Persée” is a name and “portée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,476
“Persée” frequency rank: #2,010
“portée” frequency rank: 39486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Persée	portée
Definition	Sauveur d’Andromède, fille de Céphée et Cassiopée.	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 Persée and portée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

Persée

6 ch

portée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Persée is \pɛʁ.se\ while portée is \pɔ.ʁte\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Persée is recorded at frequency rank #37,476, classified as aname, pronounced \pɛʁ.se\. 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 39486, this pair ranks #247,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Persée vs portée

Shared letters: epré. Private to "Persée": s. Private to "portée": ot.

"Persée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "portée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV

Frequency comparison

Persée#37,476

portée#2,010

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Persée" is a name and "portée" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

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

"portée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,010 in our French list, against #37,476 for "Persée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Persée vs portée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Persée”; for a noun, it's “portée”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Persée” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable