portéevspriéeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: portée is a noun, priée is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“portée” is a noun and “priée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,010
“portée” frequency rank
#49,295
“priée” frequency rank
51305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature portée priée
Definition Totalité des petits que les femelles des vivipares portent et mettent bas en une fois. Participe passé féminin singulier de prier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set portée and priée apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
portée
5 ch
priée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: portée is \pɔ.ʁte\ while priée is \pʁi.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51305, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

portée is recorded at frequency rank #2,010, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ʁte\. priée is at rank #49,295, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁi.je\.

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 51305, this pair ranks #156,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of portée vs priée

Shared letters: epré. Private to "portée": ot. Private to "priée": i.

"portée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "priée" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV

Frequency comparison

portée#2,010
priée#49,295

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "portée" and "priée" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "portée" is a noun and "priée" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "portée" or "priée"?
"portée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,010 in our French list, against #49,295 for "priée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering portée vs priée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “portée”; for a verb, it's “priée”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “portée” 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