portaisvsportéesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#26,136
“portais” frequency rank
#7,881
“portées” frequency rank
34017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature portais portées
Definition Relatif au Port, commune française située dans le département de l’Ariège. Féminin pluriel de porté.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set portais and portées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
portais
7 ch
portées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. portais (\pɔʁ.tɛ\) and portées (\pɔʁ.te\) 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 34017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

portais is recorded at frequency rank #26,136, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɔʁ.tɛ\. portées is at rank #7,881, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔʁ.te\.

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 34017, this pair ranks #286,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of portais vs portées

Shared letters: oprst. Private to "portais": ai. Private to "portées": .

"portais" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "portées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • portaisoprtais · poratis · porrtais · portaiss · portasi · portias · porttais · potrais

Frequency comparison

portais#26,136
portées#7,881

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "portais" and "portées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɔʁ.tɛ\ versus \pɔʁ.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "portais" or "portées"?
"portées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,881 in our French list, against #26,136 for "portais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering portais vs portées

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 “portais” 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