apevsaterTell them apart

Quick tell: ape is a noun, ater is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ape” is a noun and “ater” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,095
“ape” frequency rank
#39,000
“ater” frequency rank
67095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape ater
Definition comida para cavalos não permitir que tenha seguimento; impedir que prossiga

Letter map: ape vs ater

Shared letters muted; letters that set ape and ater apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. ape runs 3 letters (VCV) against ater's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ape
4 ch
ater

Role in the sentence - ape and ater

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ape is anoun and ateraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ape is recorded at frequency rank #28,095, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑ.pe/. ater is at rank #39,000, tagged as averb.

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 67095, this pair ranks #4,754 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs ater

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ape": p. Private to "ater": rt.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ater" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ater ← aetr · aterr · atter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ape" for "ater" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ape" is a noun and "ater" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ape" vs "ater" - which ranks higher?
"ape" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,095 in our Portuguese list, against #39,000 for "ater". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "ape" vs "ater" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ater" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #4,754 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "ater" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs ater". 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 #4,754 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