arevsataTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,038
“are” frequency rank
#8,716
“ata” frequency rank
12754
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature are ata
Definition unidade de medida de área equivalente a 100 metros quadrados registro escrito do que se passou em uma reunião

Where the eye mixes are and ata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
are
3 ch
ata

Visual trap between are and ata

A purely visual mix-up. are (/ˈa.ɾe/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

are is recorded at frequency rank #4,038, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.ɾe/. 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 12754, this pair ranks #59,742 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of are vs ata

Shared letters: a. Private to "are": er. Private to "ata": t.

"are" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ata" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "are" and "ata" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.ɾe/ versus /ˈa.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "are" or "ata" show up more?
"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,038 in our Portuguese list, against #8,716 for "ata". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "are" 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 #59,742 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "are" and "ata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ata". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #59,742 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