atavsaterConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#8,716
“ata” frequency rank
#39,000
“ater” frequency rank
47716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ata ater
Definition registro escrito do que se passou em uma reunião não permitir que tenha seguimento; impedir que prossiga

Letter map: ata vs ater

Shared letters muted; letters that set ata and ater apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
ata
4 ch
ater

Part-of-speech tell for ata / ater

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ata is anoun and ateraverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47716, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ata is recorded at frequency rank #8,716, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.tɐ/. 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 47716, this pair ranks #17,515 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ata vs ater

Shared letters: at. Private to "ata": -. Private to "ater": er.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ateraetr · aterr · atter

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ata" and "ater" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ata" is a noun and "ater" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ata" vs "ater" - which ranks higher?
"ata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,716 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.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ata" and "ater".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ata" 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 #17,515 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ata" 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 #17,515 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