amorvsatarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: amor is a noun, atar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“amor” is a noun and “atar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#316
“amor” frequency rank
#21,564
“atar” frequency rank
21880
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amor atar
Definition Sentimiento afectivo de atracción, unión y afinidad que se experimenta hacia una persona, animal o cosa. Utilizar ligaduras o nudos para que algo quede sujeto o inmóvil.

Where the eye mixes amor and atar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
amor
4 ch
atar

Visual trap between amor and atar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amor is [aˈmoɾ] while atar is [aˈt̪aɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amor is recorded at frequency rank #316, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈmoɾ]. atar is at rank #21,564, tagged as averb, pronounced [aˈt̪aɾ].

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 21880, this pair ranks #252,918 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of amor vs atar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "amor": mo. Private to "atar": t.

"amor" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amorammor · amorr · amro · aomr · maor
  • ataraatr · atarr · attar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "amor" for "atar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "amor" is a noun and "atar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "amor" or "atar"?
"amor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #316 in our Spanish list, against #21,564 for "atar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "amor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,918 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amor" and "atar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs ataron". 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 #252,918 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list