agradarvsatrasarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,731
“agradar” frequency rank
#10,137
“atrasar” frequency rank
16868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agradar atrasar
Definition alisar o terreno com grade; gradar; desterroar induzir a demora ou o adiamento de algo

Where the eye mixes agradar and atrasar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
agradar
7 ch
atrasar

Visual trap between agradar and atrasar

A purely visual mix-up. agradar (/ɐ.ɡɾɐ.ˈdaɾ/) and atrasar (/a.tɾaˈza(ʁ)/) 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 16868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agradar is recorded at frequency rank #6,731, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ɡɾɐ.ˈdaɾ/. atrasar is at rank #10,137, tagged as averb, pronounced /a.tɾaˈza(ʁ)/.

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 16868, this pair ranks #54,564 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agradar vs atrasar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "agradar": dg. Private to "atrasar": st.

"agradar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "atrasar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agradaragardar · aggradar · agraadr · agradarr · agraddar · agradra · agrdaar · agrradar
  • atrasarartasar · atarsar · atraasr · atrasarr · atrasra · atrassar · atrrasar · atrsaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "agradar" for "atrasar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ɡɾɐ.ˈdaɾ/ versus /a.tɾaˈza(ʁ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agradar" or "atrasar"?
"agradar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,731 in our Portuguese list, against #10,137 for "atrasar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "agradar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atrasar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,564 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agradar" and "atrasar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abrandar vs agradar". 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 #54,564 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