atar vs atl, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#48,254
“atar” frequency rank: #40,900
“atl” frequency rank: 89154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	atar	atl
Definition	apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar:	água

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set atar and atl apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

atar

3 ch

atl

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atar is /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/ while atl is /ˈaːt͡ɬ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89154, 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/. atl is at rank #40,900, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈaːt͡ɬ/.

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 89154, this pair ranks #344 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atar vs atl

Shared letters: at. Private to "atar": r. Private to "atl": l.

"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "atl" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Known mistypes of this pair

atar ← aatr · atarr · attar

Frequency comparison

atar#48,254

atl#40,900

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "atar" and "atl" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "atar" is a verb and "atl" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "atar" or "atl"?

"atl" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,900 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.

Remembering atar vs atl

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “atar”; for a noun, it's “atl”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “atar” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable