A vs at, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“A” is an adjective and “at” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2
“A” frequency rank: #1,457
“at” frequency rank: 1459
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	A	at
Definition	assinala o primeiro elemento de uma série na qual estes são distinguidos e ordenados em uma sequência alfabética	em, a

Where the eye mixes A and at

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

1 ch

2 ch

Why the eye confuses A with at

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: A is /a/ while at is \æt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “A” sits inside “at”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

A is recorded at frequency rank #2, classified as anadj, pronounced /a/. at is at rank #1,457, tagged as aprep, pronounced \æt\.

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 1459, this pair ranks #74,113 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of A vs at

Shared letters: a. Private to "A": -. Private to "at": t.

"A" · 1 letters · shape V · "at" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "A" for "at" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "A" is an adjective and "at" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "A" or "at"?

"A" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2 in our Portuguese list, against #1,457 for "at". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "A" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "at" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #74,113 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"A" and "at" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs at". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #74,113 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.