Which to use
“portão” and “porte” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,450
- “portão” frequency rank
- #4,093
- “porte” frequency rank
- 9543
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portão | porte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | porta grande | o ato de portar, transportar |
Where the eye mixes portão and porte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. portão runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against porte's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses portão with porte
A purely visual mix-up. portão (/puɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/) and porte (/ˈpɔɾ.tɨ/) 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 9543, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portão is recorded at frequency rank #5,450, classified as anoun, pronounced /puɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/. porte is at rank #4,093, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpɔɾ.tɨ/.
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 9543, this pair ranks #63,841 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of portão vs porte
Shared letters: oprt. Private to "portão": ã. Private to "porte": e.
"portão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "porte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- porte ← oprte · poret · porrte · portte · potre · pporte · prote
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portão" for "porte" ever safe?
Which is more common, "portão" or "porte"?
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 "portão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "porte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,841 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portão" and "porte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "porrete vs porte". 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 #63,841 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.