aterrarvsaterroConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#32,863
“aterrar” frequency rank
#15,022
“aterro” frequency rank
47885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aterrar aterro
Definition retornar à terra; pousar (o avião); aterrissar ação ou efeito de aterrar

Where the eye mixes aterrar and aterro

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
aterrar
6 ch
aterro

Visual trap between aterrar and aterro

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aterrar is /a.teˈʁa(ʁ)/ while aterro is /ɐ.ˈte.Ru/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aterrar is recorded at frequency rank #32,863, classified as averb, pronounced /a.teˈʁa(ʁ)/. aterro is at rank #15,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈte.Ru/.

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 47885, this pair ranks #17,326 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aterrar vs aterro

Shared letters: aert. Private to "aterrar": -. Private to "aterro": o.

"aterrar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "aterro" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aterraraetrrar · aterar · aterarr · aterrarr · aterrra · atrerar · atterrar · taerrar
  • aterroaetrro · atero · ateror · atrero · atterro · taerro

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aterrar" and "aterro" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aterrar" is a verb and "aterro" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "aterrar" vs "aterro" - which ranks higher?
"aterro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,022 in our Portuguese list, against #32,863 for "aterrar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aterrar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aterro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,326 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aterrar" and "aterro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aterrar vs atestar". 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 #17,326 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