aerovsaterroTell them apart

Which to use

“aero” and “aterro” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#29,208
“aero” frequency rank
#15,022
“aterro” frequency rank
44230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aero aterro
Definition ar, vento ação ou efeito de aterrar

Where the eye mixes aero and aterro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. aero runs 4 letters (VVCV) against aterro's 6 (VCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
aero
6 ch
aterro

Look-alike desk: aero vs aterro

A purely visual mix-up. aero (/a.ˈɛ.rɔ/) and aterro (/ɐ.ˈte.Ru/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aero is recorded at frequency rank #29,208, classified as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈɛ.rɔ/. aterro is at rank #15,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈte.Ru/.

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 44230, this pair ranks #21,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aero vs aterro

Shared letters: aeor. Private to "aero": -. Private to "aterro": t.

"aero" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "aterro" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aero ← aeor · aerro · areo · earo
  • aterro ← aetrro · atero · ateror · atrero · atterro · taerro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aero" and "aterro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/a.ˈɛ.rɔ/ versus /ɐ.ˈte.Ru/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "aero" or "aterro" show up more?
"aterro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,022 in our Portuguese list, against #29,208 for "aero". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aero" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aterro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,280 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aero" and "aterro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aero vs atroz". 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 #21,280 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