Which to use
“portier” and “portières” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,970
- “portier” frequency rank
- #35,650
- “portières” frequency rank
- 52620
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portier | portières |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Homme dont la profession est de garder une porte d’entrée. | Pluriel de portière. |
Where the eye mixes portier and portières
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. portier runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against portières's 9 (CVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses portier with portières
A purely visual mix-up. portier (\pɔʁ.tje\) and portières (\pɔʁ.tjɛʁ\) 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 52620, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portier is recorded at frequency rank #16,970, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔʁ.tje\. portières is at rank #35,650, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔʁ.tjɛʁ\.
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 52620, this pair ranks #146,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of portier vs portières
Shared letters: eioprt. Private to "portier": -. Private to "portières": sè.
"portier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "portières" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- portier ← oprtier · poriter · porrtier · porteir · portierr · portire · porttier · potrier
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portier" for "portières" ever safe?
Which is more common, "portier" or "portières"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "portier" and "portières" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "portier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portier" and "portières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "portières 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 #146,430 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.