asívsateWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: así is a adverb, ate is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“así” is an adverb and “ate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#55
“así” frequency rank
#23,677
“ate” frequency rank
23732
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature así ate
Definition De este modo o forma. Dulce de membrillo en forma de barra o bloque a modo de dulce seco.

Where the eye mixes así and ate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
así
3 ch
ate

Look-alike desk: así vs ate

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: así is [aˈsi] while ate is [ˈat̪e]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23732, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

así is recorded at frequency rank #55, classified as anadv, pronounced [aˈsi]. ate is at rank #23,677, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈat̪e].

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 23732, this pair ranks #244,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of así vs ate

Shared letters: a. Private to "así": . Private to "ate": et.

"así" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ate" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "así" and "ate" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "así" is an adverb and "ate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "así" vs "ate" - which ranks higher?
"así" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #55 in our Spanish list, against #23,677 for "ate". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "así" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #244,404 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "así" and "ate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anta vs ate". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #244,404 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