atervsatorConfusable pair

Quick tell: ater is a verb, ator is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,000
“ater” frequency rank
#2,556
“ator” frequency rank
41556
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ater ator
Definition não permitir que tenha seguimento; impedir que prossiga pessoa que representa uma personagem no teatro ou no cinema

Letter map: ater vs ator

Shared letters muted; letters that set ater and ator apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
ater
4 ch
ator

Grammar separator: ater vs ator

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ater is averb and atoranoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “ater” becomes o in “ator”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ater is recorded at frequency rank #39,000, classified as averb. ator is at rank #2,556, tagged as anoun, pronounced /a.ˈtoɾ/.

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 41556, this pair ranks #24,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ater vs ator

Shared letters: art. Private to "ater": e. Private to "ator": o.

"ater" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ator" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ateraetr · aterr · atter
  • atoraotr · atorr · atro · attor · taor

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ater" and "ator" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ater" is a verb and "ator" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ater" or "ator"?
"ator" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,556 in our Portuguese list, against #39,000 for "ater". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "ater" vs "ator" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ater" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ator" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ater" and "ator" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs ater". 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 #24,355 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