Which to use
“ágil” is an adjective and “atl” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,177
- “ágil” frequency rank
- #40,900
- “atl” frequency rank
- 58077
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ágil | atl |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ligeiro, pronto, veloz | água |
Where the eye mixes ágil and atl
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. ágil runs 4 letters (VCVC) against atl's 3 (VCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ágil with atl
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ágil is /ˈa.ʒiɫ/ while atl is /ˈaːt͡ɬ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58077, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ágil is recorded at frequency rank #17,177, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈa.ʒiɫ/. atl is at rank #40,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaːt͡ɬ/.
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 58077, this pair ranks #8,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ágil vs atl
Shared letters: l. Private to "ágil": giá. Private to "atl": at.
"ágil" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "atl" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ágil" for "atl" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ágil" vs "atl" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ágil" and "atl" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ágil" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "atl" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ágil" and "atl" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs atl". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,960 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.