portvspotConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,169
“port” frequency rank
#3,954
“pot” frequency rank
5123
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature port pot
Definition Havre côtier, refuge ou abri pour les bateaux les protégeant des vents et des tempêtes. Vase de terre, verre, métal, plastique ou autre matière servant à divers usages.

Where the eye mixes port and pot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
port
3 ch
pot

Look-alike desk: port vs pot

A purely visual mix-up. port (\pɔʁ\) and pot (\po\) 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 5123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

port is recorded at frequency rank #1,169, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔʁ\. pot is at rank #3,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced \po\.

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 5123, this pair ranks #429,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of port vs pot

Shared letters: opt. Private to "port": r. Private to "pot": -.

"port" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portoprt · porrt · portt · potr · pport

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "port" for "pot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɔʁ\ versus \po\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "port" vs "pot" - which ranks higher?
"port" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,169 in our French list, against #3,954 for "pot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "port" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "port" and "pot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pot". 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 #429,834 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