atavsatumWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,716
“ata” frequency rank
#16,684
“atum” frequency rank
25400
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ata atum
Definition registro escrito do que se passou em uma reunião peixe da família dos Escombrídeos muito usado na alimentação quer em fresco, quer em conserva

Where the eye mixes ata and atum

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

3 ch
ata
4 ch
atum

Visual trap between ata and atum

A purely visual mix-up. ata (/ˈa.tɐ/) and atum (/ɐ.ˈtũ/) 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 25400, 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/. atum is at rank #16,684, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtũ/.

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 25400, this pair ranks #43,930 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ata vs atum

Shared letters: at. Private to "ata": -. Private to "atum": mu.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atumatmu · attum · atumm · autm · taum

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ata" and "atum" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈa.tɐ/ versus /ɐ.ˈtũ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ata" vs "atum" - which ranks higher?
"ata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,716 in our Portuguese list, against #16,684 for "atum". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atum" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #43,930 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ata" and "atum" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs atum". 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 #43,930 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