portavspostoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: porta is a noun, posto is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“porta” is a noun and “posto” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#832
“porta” frequency rank
#1,722
“posto” frequency rank
2554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature porta posto
Definition peça de madeira, metal ou vidro usada para fechar o buraco aberto numa construção por onde pessoas passam de um cômodo para outro ou de dentro para fora da construção colocado, plantado, posicionado

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set porta and posto apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
porta
5 ch
posto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

porta and posto form a confusable pair in the Portuguese index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

porta is recorded at frequency rank #832, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔɾ.tɐ/. posto is at rank #1,722, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpoʃ.tʊ/.

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 2554, this pair ranks #72,799 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

porta#832
posto#1,722

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "porta" and "posto" be used interchangeably?
No, "porta" and "posto" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering porta vs posto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “porta”; for an adjective, it's “posto”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “porta” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list