Which to use
“porteur” and “pourtour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,332
- “porteur” frequency rank
- #24,724
- “pourtour” frequency rank
- 31056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | porteur | pourtour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne dont le métier ordinaire est de porter quelque chose. | Tour ou circuit de certaines choses. |
Where the eye mixes porteur and pourtour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. porteur runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against pourtour's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between porteur and pourtour
A purely visual mix-up. porteur (\pɔʁ.tœʁ\) and pourtour (\puʁ.tuʁ\) 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 31056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
porteur is recorded at frequency rank #6,332, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔʁ.tœʁ\. pourtour is at rank #24,724, tagged as anoun, pronounced \puʁ.tuʁ\.
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 31056, this pair ranks #306,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of porteur vs pourtour
Shared letters: oprtu. Private to "porteur": e. Private to "pourtour": -.
"porteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "pourtour" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "porteur" for "pourtour" ever safe?
Which is more common, "porteur" or "pourtour"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "porteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pourtour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,277 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "porteur" and "pourtour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pourtour vs poutou". 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 #306,277 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.