Which to use
“pont” and “port” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,452
- “pont” frequency rank
- #1,169
- “port” frequency rank
- 2621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pont | port |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Construction élevée d’un bord à l’autre d’une rivière, d’un ruisseau, d’un fossé pour permettre de les traverser. | Havre côtier, refuge ou abri pour les bateaux les protégeant des vents et des tempêtes. |
Where the eye mixes pont and port
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pont with port
A purely visual mix-up. pont (\pɔ̃\) and port (\pɔʁ\) 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 a single letter - n in “pont” becomes r in “port”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pont is recorded at frequency rank #1,452, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ̃\. port is at rank #1,169, 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 2621, this pair ranks #435,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pont vs port
Shared letters: opt. Private to "pont": n. Private to "port": r.
"pont" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "port" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pont" for "port" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pont" or "port"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pont" and "port" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pont" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "port" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pont" and "port" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pont vs pontet". 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 #435,789 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.