atarvsatearWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,254
“atar” frequency rank
#38,140
“atear” frequency rank
86394
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atar atear
Definition apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar: lançar fogo a

Where the eye mixes atar and atear

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
atar
5 ch
atear

Visual trap between atar and atear

A purely visual mix-up. atar (/ɐ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atar is recorded at frequency rank #48,254, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/. 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 86394, this pair ranks #584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atar vs atear

Shared letters: art. Private to "atar": -. Private to "atear": e.

"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "atear" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ataraatr · atarr · attar
  • atearaetar · ataer · atearr · atera · attear · taear

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atar" and "atear" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /ɐ.ˈtjaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "atar" or "atear"?
"atear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,140 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

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "atar" 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 #584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atar" and "atear" 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 #584 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