atevsatomWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ate” and “atom” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,677
“ate” frequency rank
#41,200
“atom” frequency rank
64877
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ate atom
Definition Dulce de membrillo en forma de barra o bloque a modo de dulce seco. Átomo.

Where the eye mixes ate and atom

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

3 ch
ate
4 ch
atom

Visual trap between ate and atom

A purely visual mix-up. ate ([ˈat̪e]) and atom (/ˈɑ.tom/) 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 64877, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ate is recorded at frequency rank #23,677, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈat̪e]. atom is at rank #41,200, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑ.tom/.

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 64877, this pair ranks #44,285 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ate vs atom

Shared letters: at. Private to "ate": e. Private to "atom": mo.

"ate" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "atom" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atomaotm · atmo · atomm · attom · taom

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ate" and "atom" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈat̪e] versus /ˈɑ.tom/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ate" or "atom" show up more?
"ate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,677 in our Spanish list, against #41,200 for "atom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atom" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,285 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ate" and "atom" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atl vs atom". 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 #44,285 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