amar vs atar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,349
“amar” frequency rank: #48,254
“atar” frequency rank: 50603
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	amar	atar
Definition	transitivo direto	apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar:

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set amar and atar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

amar

4 ch

atar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

amar and atar are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - m in “amar” becomes t in “atar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amar is recorded at frequency rank #2,349, classified as averb. atar is at rank #48,254, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.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 50603, this pair ranks #14,359 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of amar vs atar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "amar": m. Private to "atar": t.

"amar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

amar ← aamr · amarr · ammar · maar
atar ← aatr · atarr · attar

Frequency comparison

amar#2,349

atar#48,254

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "amar" and "atar" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by a single letter - m in “amar” becomes t in “atar”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "amar" or "atar"?

"amar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,349 in our Portuguese list, against #48,254 for "atar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering amar vs atar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “amar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable