Which to use
“portão” is a noun and “postal” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,450
- “portão” frequency rank
- #8,244
- “postal” frequency rank
- 13694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portão | postal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | porta grande | do correio |
Where the eye mixes portão and postal
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. portão (CVCCVV) and postal (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses portão with postal
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: portão is /puɾ.ˈtɐ̃w̃/ while postal is /puʃ.ˈtaɫ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13694, 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/. postal is at rank #8,244, tagged as anadj, pronounced /puʃ.ˈtaɫ/.
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 13694, this pair ranks #58,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of portão vs postal
Shared letters: opt. Private to "portão": rã. Private to "postal": als.
"portão" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "postal" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- postal ← opstal · posatl · posstal · postall · postla · posttal · potsal · ppostal
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "portão" and "postal" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "portão" or "postal" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "portão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "postal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #58,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portão" and "postal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pastar vs postal". 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 #58,582 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.