acharvsatarConfusable pair

Quick tell: achar is a noun, atar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“achar” is a noun and “atar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,062
“achar” frequency rank
#48,254
“atar” frequency rank
49316
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature achar atar
Definition conserva indiana (de peixe, fruta ou vegetal) apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar:

Where the eye mixes achar and atar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
achar
4 ch
atar

Why the eye confuses achar with atar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: achar is /ɐ.ˈʃaɾ/ while atar is /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49316, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

achar is recorded at frequency rank #1,062, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈʃaɾ/. atar is at rank #48,254, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.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 49316, this pair ranks #15,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of achar vs atar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "achar": ch. Private to "atar": t.

"achar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acharacahr · acchar · acharr · achhar · achra · ahcar · cahar
  • ataraatr · atarr · attar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "achar" and "atar" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "achar" is a noun and "atar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "achar" or "atar"?
"achar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,062 in our Portuguese list, against #48,254 for "atar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "achar" and "atar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "achar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #15,715 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "achar" and "atar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afã 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 #15,715 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