Which to use
“portables” and “postales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,599
- “portables” frequency rank
- #16,212
- “postales” frequency rank
- 24811
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portables | postales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de portable. | Féminin pluriel de postal. |
Where the eye mixes portables and postales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. portables runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against postales's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses portables with postales
A purely visual mix-up. portables (\pɔʁ.tabl\) and postales (\pɔs.tal\) 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 24811, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portables is recorded at frequency rank #8,599, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɔʁ.tabl\. postales is at rank #16,212, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔs.tal\.
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 24811, this pair ranks #344,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of portables vs postales
Shared letters: aelopst. Private to "portables": br. Private to "postales": -.
"portables" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC · "postales" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portables" for "postales" ever safe?
Which is more common, "portables" or "postales"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "portables" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "postales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,482 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portables" and "postales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pistoles vs postales". 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 #344,482 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.