atarvsaturarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#48,254
“atar” frequency rank
#21,370
“aturar” frequency rank
69624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atar aturar
Definition apertar atilho com nó; amarrar; ligar; manietar: suportar

Where the eye mixes atar and aturar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. atar runs 4 letters (VCVC) against aturar's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
atar
6 ch
aturar

Look-alike desk: atar vs aturar

A purely visual mix-up. atar (/ɐ.ˈtaɾ/) and aturar (/ɐ.tu.ˈɾaɾ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69624, 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/. aturar is at rank #21,370, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.tu.ˈɾaɾ/.

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 69624, this pair ranks #3,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of atar vs aturar

Shared letters: art. Private to "atar": -. Private to "aturar": u.

"atar" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "aturar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ataraatr · atarr · attar
  • aturaratruar · atturar · aturarr · aturra · aturrar · autrar · taurar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "atar" and "aturar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /ɐ.tu.ˈɾaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "atar" or "aturar"?
"aturar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,370 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.

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 "aturar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,891 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atar" and "aturar" 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 #3,891 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