Which to use
“abanar” and “acatar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,979
- “abanar” frequency rank
- #32,036
- “acatar” frequency rank
- 67015
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abanar | acatar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | agitar o ar com abano | respeitar, venerar |
Where the eye mixes abanar and acatar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. abanar and acatar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: abanar vs acatar
A purely visual mix-up. abanar (/ɐ.bɐ.ˈnaɾ/) and acatar (/ɐ.kɐ.ˈtaɾ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abanar is recorded at frequency rank #34,979, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ.ˈnaɾ/. acatar is at rank #32,036, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.kɐ.ˈtaɾ/.
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 67015, this pair ranks #4,766 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abanar vs acatar
Shared letters: ar. Private to "abanar": bn. Private to "acatar": ct.
"abanar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "acatar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "abanar" for "acatar" ever safe?
Frequency check: "abanar" vs "acatar" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "abanar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "acatar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,766 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abanar" and "acatar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acatar 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 #4,766 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.