abalovsatadoConfusable pair

Quick tell: abalo is a noun, atado is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“abalo” is a noun and “atado” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,870
“abalo” frequency rank
#37,645
“atado” frequency rank
63515
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abalo atado
Definition ato ou efeito de abalar preso com uma corda ou atacador

Letter map: abalo vs atado

Shared letters muted; letters that set abalo and atado apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. abalo and atado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
abalo
5 ch
atado

Role in the sentence - abalo and atado

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: abalo is anoun and atadoanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abalo is recorded at frequency rank #25,870, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈba.lu/. atado is at rank #37,645, tagged as anadj.

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 63515, this pair ranks #6,157 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abalo vs atado

Shared letters: ao. Private to "abalo": bl. Private to "atado": dt.

"abalo" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "atado" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abaloaablo · aballo · abaol · abbalo · ablao · baalo
  • atadoaatdo · ataddo · ataod · atdao · attado · taado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abalo" for "atado" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abalo" is a noun and "atado" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "abalo" vs "atado" - which ranks higher?
"abalo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,870 in our Portuguese list, against #37,645 for "atado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "abalo" and "atado".

  • Full dictionary entry for "abalo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #6,157 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abalo" and "atado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atado vs atar". 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 #6,157 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list