aldavsataWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,810
“alda” frequency rank
#8,716
“ata” frequency rank
39526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alda ata
Definition vaga, onda marinha registro escrito do que se passou em uma reunião

Where the eye mixes alda and ata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
alda
3 ch
ata

Why the eye confuses alda with ata

A purely visual mix-up. alda (/ˈal.da/) and ata (/ˈa.tɐ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alda is recorded at frequency rank #30,810, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈal.da/. ata is at rank #8,716, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.tɐ/.

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 39526, this pair ranks #26,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of alda vs ata

Shared letters: a. Private to "alda": dl. Private to "ata": t.

"alda" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "ata" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aldaadla · alad · aldda · allda · lada

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "alda" for "ata" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈal.da/ versus /ˈa.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "alda" or "ata"?
"ata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,716 in our Portuguese list, against #30,810 for "alda". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #26,699 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alda" and "ata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alda vs audaz". 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 #26,699 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