Which to use
“porter” is a verb and “postier” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #883
- “porter” frequency rank
- #48,117
- “postier” frequency rank
- 49000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | porter | postier |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Soutenir quelque chose ou quelqu’un. | Agent, employé du service des postes. |
Where the eye mixes porter and postier
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: porter vs postier
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: porter is \pɔʁ.te\ while postier is \pɔs.tje\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49000, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
porter is recorded at frequency rank #883, classified as averb, pronounced \pɔʁ.te\. postier is at rank #48,117, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔs.tje\.
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 49000, this pair ranks #174,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of porter vs postier
Shared letters: eoprt. Private to "porter": -. Private to "postier": is.
"porter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "postier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "porter" for "postier" ever safe?
Frequency check: "porter" vs "postier" - which ranks higher?
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 "porter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "postier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #174,306 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "porter" and "postier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postier vs potiers". 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 #174,306 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.