Which to use
“abater” and “acatar” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,953
- “abater” frequency rank
- #32,036
- “acatar” frequency rank
- 49989
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abater | acatar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | desabar, cair, demolir | respeitar, venerar |
Where the eye mixes abater and acatar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between abater and acatar
A purely visual mix-up. abater (/ɐ.bɐ.ˈteɾ/) 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 49989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abater is recorded at frequency rank #17,953, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.bɐ.ˈteɾ/. 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 49989, this pair ranks #14,984 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abater vs acatar
Shared letters: art. Private to "abater": be. Private to "acatar": c.
"abater" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "acatar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abater" and "acatar" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "abater" or "acatar" show up more?
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 "abater" 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 #14,984 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abater" 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 #14,984 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.