atarvsaterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,254
“atar” frequency rank
#39,000
“ater” frequency rank
87254
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atar ater
Definition apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar: não permitir que tenha seguimento; impedir que prossiga

Letter map: atar vs ater

Shared letters muted; letters that set atar and ater apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
atar
4 ch
ater

Spelling & dictionary notes on atar vs ater

atar and ater are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - a in “atar” becomes e in “ater”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87254, 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/. 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 87254, this pair ranks #502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atar vs ater

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

"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ater" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ataraatr · atarr · attar
  • ateraetr · aterr · atter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atar" and "ater" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by a single letter - a in “atar” becomes e in “ater”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "atar" or "ater" show up more?
"ater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,000 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "atar" 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 #502 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atar" and "ater" 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 #502 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