plotsvsportsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#42,529
“plots” frequency rank
#6,642
“ports” frequency rank
49171
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plots ports
Definition Pluriel de plot. Pluriel de port.

Where the eye mixes plots and ports

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. plots (CCVCC) and ports (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
plots
5 ch
ports

Look-alike desk: plots vs ports

A purely visual mix-up. plots (\plo\) and ports (\pɔʁ\) 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 49171, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plots is recorded at frequency rank #42,529, classified as anoun, pronounced \plo\. ports is at rank #6,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔʁ\.

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 49171, this pair ranks #172,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of plots vs ports

Shared letters: opst. Private to "plots": l. Private to "ports": r.

"plots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "ports" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plots ← lpots · pllots · plost · plotss · plotts · pltos · polts · pplots
  • ports ← oprts · porrts · porst · portss · portts · potrs · pports · prots

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plots" and "ports" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\plo\ versus \pɔʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "plots" vs "ports" - which ranks higher?
"ports" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,642 in our French list, against #42,529 for "plots". 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 "plots" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ports" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #172,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plots" and "ports" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pivots vs plots". 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 #172,868 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