Which to use
“porção” and “portão” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,200
- “porção” frequency rank
- #5,450
- “portão” frequency rank
- 12650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | porção | portão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | parte de algo, pedaço, ração, dose: | porta grande |
Where the eye mixes porção and portão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. porção and portão follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses porção with portão
A purely visual mix-up. porção (/puɾ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and portão (/puɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) 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 a single letter - ç in “porção” becomes t in “portão”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
porção is recorded at frequency rank #7,200, classified as anoun, pronounced /puɾ.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. portão is at rank #5,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /puɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/.
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 12650, this pair ranks #59,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of porção vs portão
Shared letters: oprã. Private to "porção": ç. Private to "portão": t.
"porção" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "portão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "porção" for "portão" ever safe?
Which is more common, "porção" or "portão"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "porção" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "portão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "porção" and "portão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "porção vs punção". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #59,872 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.