assarvsatarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,870
“assar” frequency rank
#48,254
“atar” frequency rank
71124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature assar atar
Definition cozinhar em seco, diretamente sobre o fogo ou no forno apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar:

Where the eye mixes assar and atar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
assar
4 ch
atar

Look-alike desk: assar vs atar

A purely visual mix-up. assar (/ɐ.ˈsaɾ/) and atar (/ɐ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 71124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

assar is recorded at frequency rank #22,870, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈsaɾ/. 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 71124, this pair ranks #3,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of assar vs atar

Shared letters: ar. Private to "assar": s. Private to "atar": t.

"assar" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • assarasar · asasr · assarr · assra · sasar
  • ataraatr · atarr · attar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "assar" for "atar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈsaɾ/ versus /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "assar" or "atar"?
"assar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,870 in our Portuguese list, against #48,254 for "atar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "assar" and "atar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "assar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "assar" and "atar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afã vs atar". 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 #3,443 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