Which to use
“atar” is a verb and “atrás” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,254
- “atar” frequency rank
- #441
- “atrás” frequency rank
- 48695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | atar | atrás |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar: | detrás, por trás |
Where the eye mixes atar and atrás
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. atar runs 4 letters (VCVC) against atrás's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: atar vs atrás
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atar is /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/ while atrás is /ɐ.ˈtɾaʃ/. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48695, 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/. atrás is at rank #441, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtɾaʃ/.
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 48695, this pair ranks #16,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of atar vs atrás
Shared letters: art. Private to "atar": -. Private to "atrás": sá.
"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "atrás" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- atar ← aatr · atarr · attar
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "atar" and "atrás" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "atar" vs "atrás" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "atar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "atrás" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "atar" and "atrás" 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 #16,465 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.