atentarvsaumentarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,665
“atentar” frequency rank
#1,560
“aumentar” frequency rank
23225
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atentar aumentar
Definition observar com atenção tornar maior, ampliar:

Where the eye mixes atentar and aumentar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. atentar runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against aumentar's 8 (VVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
atentar
8 ch
aumentar

Look-alike desk: atentar vs aumentar

A purely visual mix-up. atentar (/ɐ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/) and aumentar (/aw.mẽ.ˈtaɾ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23225, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atentar is recorded at frequency rank #21,665, classified as averb, pronounced /ɐ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/. aumentar is at rank #1,560, tagged as averb, pronounced /aw.mẽ.ˈtaɾ/.

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 23225, this pair ranks #46,647 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of atentar vs aumentar

Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "atentar": -. Private to "aumentar": mu.

"atentar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "aumentar" · 8 letters · shape VVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atentar ← aetntar · atenatr · atenntar · atentarr · atentra · atenttar · atetnar · atnetar
  • aumentar ← amuentar · auemntar · aumenatr · aumenntar · aumentarr · aumentra · aumenttar · aumetnar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "atentar" and "aumentar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.tẽ.ˈtaɾ/ versus /aw.mẽ.ˈtaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "atentar" or "aumentar"?
"aumentar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,560 in our Portuguese list, against #21,665 for "atentar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "atentar" and "aumentar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "atentar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aumentar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,647 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atentar" and "aumentar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acentuar vs atentar". 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 #46,647 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