armarvsatearWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,935
“armar” frequency rank
#38,140
“atear” frequency rank
55075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature armar atear
Definition prover de armas lançar fogo a

Where the eye mixes armar and atear

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. armar (VCCVC) and atear (VCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
armar
5 ch
atear

Look-alike desk: armar vs atear

A purely visual mix-up. armar (/ɐɾ.ˈmaɾ/) and atear (/ɐ.ˈtjaɾ/) 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 55075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

armar is recorded at frequency rank #16,935, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐɾ.ˈmaɾ/. atear is at rank #38,140, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtjaɾ/.

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 55075, this pair ranks #10,823 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of armar vs atear

Shared letters: ar. Private to "armar": m. Private to "atear": et.

"armar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "atear" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • armar ← amrar · aramr · armarr · armmar · armra · arrmar · ramar
  • atear ← aetar · ataer · atearr · atera · attear · taear

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "armar" and "atear" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐɾ.ˈmaɾ/ versus /ɐ.ˈtjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "armar" or "atear"?
"armar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,935 in our Portuguese list, against #38,140 for "atear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "armar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atear" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,823 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "armar" and "atear" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs atear". 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 #10,823 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