portavsposaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,722
“porta” frequency rank
#20,819
“posa” frequency rank
36541
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature porta posa
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de porter. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de poser.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set porta and posa apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
porta
4 ch
posa

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. porta (\pɔʁ.ta\) and posa (\po.za\) 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 36541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

porta is recorded at frequency rank #15,722, classified as averb, pronounced \pɔʁ.ta\. posa is at rank #20,819, tagged as averb, pronounced \po.za\.

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 36541, this pair ranks #268,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of porta vs posa

Shared letters: aop. Private to "porta": rt. Private to "posa": s.

"porta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "posa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portaoprta · porat · porrta · portta · potra · pporta · prota
  • posaopsa · poas · possa · pposa · psoa

Frequency comparison

porta#15,722
posa#20,819

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "porta" and "posa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɔʁ.ta\ versus \po.za\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "porta" or "posa"?
"porta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,722 in our French list, against #20,819 for "posa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering porta vs posa

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “porta” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list