Which to use
“atar” is a verb and “atual” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,254
- “atar” frequency rank
- #694
- “atual” frequency rank
- 48948
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | atar | atual |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar: | que está em atuação |
Where the eye mixes atar and atual
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: atar vs atual
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atar is /ɐ.ˈtaɾ/ while atual is /ɐ.ˈtwaɫ/. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48948, 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/. atual is at rank #694, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtwaɫ/.
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 48948, this pair ranks #16,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of atar vs atual
Shared letters: at. Private to "atar": r. Private to "atual": lu.
"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "atual" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "atar" and "atual" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "atar" or "atual" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "atual" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "atar" and "atual" 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 #16,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.