alistarvsatestarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#29,214
“alistar” frequency rank
#39,482
“atestar” frequency rank
68696
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature alistar atestar
Definition pôr em lista afirmar como testemunha

Where the eye mixes alistar and atestar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alistar and atestar follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
alistar
7 ch
atestar

Why the eye confuses alistar with atestar

A purely visual mix-up. alistar (/ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and atestar (/ɐ.tɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 68696, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

alistar is recorded at frequency rank #29,214, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/. atestar is at rank #39,482, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.tɨʃ.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 68696, this pair ranks #4,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of alistar vs atestar

Shared letters: arst. Private to "alistar": il. Private to "atestar": e.

"alistar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "atestar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • alistar ← ailstar · alisatr · alisstar · alistarr · alistra · alisttar · alitsar · allistar
  • atestar ← aetstar · atesatr · atesstar · atestarr · atestra · atesttar · atetsar · atsetar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "alistar" and "atestar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.liʃ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /ɐ.tɨʃ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "alistar" vs "atestar" - which ranks higher?
"alistar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,214 in our Portuguese list, against #39,482 for "atestar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "alistar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atestar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,194 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "alistar" and "atestar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alastrar vs alistar". 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 #4,194 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