Which to use
“portent” and “portèrent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,731
- “portent” frequency rank
- #49,863
- “portèrent” frequency rank
- 52594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portent | portèrent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de porter. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de porter. |
Where the eye mixes portent and portèrent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. portent runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against portèrent's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: portent vs portèrent
A purely visual mix-up. portent (\pɔʁt\) and portèrent (\pɔʁ.tɛʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portent is recorded at frequency rank #2,731, classified as averb, pronounced \pɔʁt\. portèrent is at rank #49,863, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɔʁ.tɛʁ\.
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 52594, this pair ranks #146,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of portent vs portèrent
Shared letters: enoprt. Private to "portent": -. Private to "portèrent": è.
"portent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "portèrent" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- portent ← oprtent · poretnt · porrtent · portennt · portentt · portetn · portnet · porttent
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "portent" and "portèrent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "portent" or "portèrent"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "portent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portèrent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portent" and "portèrent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partirent vs portèrent". 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 #146,613 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.