armavsataTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,913
“arma” frequency rank
#8,716
“ata” frequency rank
10629
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arma ata
Definition instrumento usado para ataque e defesa registro escrito do que se passou em uma reunião

Where the eye mixes arma and ata

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

4 ch
arma
3 ch
ata

Look-alike desk: arma vs ata

A purely visual mix-up. arma (/ˈaɾmɐ/) 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 10629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arma is recorded at frequency rank #1,913, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈaɾmɐ/. 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 10629, this pair ranks #62,412 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of arma vs ata

Shared letters: a. Private to "arma": mr. Private to "ata": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • armaamra · aram · armma · arrma

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "arma" for "ata" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈaɾmɐ/ versus /ˈa.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "arma" or "ata"?
"arma" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,913 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 "arma" 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 #62,412 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arma" and "ata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ata". 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 #62,412 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