aterrarvsaturarConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,863
“aterrar” frequency rank
#21,370
“aturar” frequency rank
54233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aterrar aturar
Definition retornar à terra; pousar (o avião); aterrissar suportar

Where the eye mixes aterrar and aturar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. aterrar runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against aturar's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
aterrar
6 ch
aturar

Visual trap between aterrar and aturar

A purely visual mix-up. aterrar (/a.teˈʁa(ʁ)/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54233, 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)/. 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 54233, this pair ranks #11,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aterrar vs aturar

Shared letters: art. Private to "aterrar": e. Private to "aturar": u.

"aterrar" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "aturar" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aterraraetrrar · aterar · aterarr · aterrarr · aterrra · atrerar · atterrar · taerrar
  • aturaratruar · atturar · aturarr · aturra · aturrar · autrar · taurar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aterrar" and "aturar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/a.teˈʁa(ʁ)/ versus /ɐ.tu.ˈɾaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aterrar" or "aturar"?
"aturar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,370 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aterrar" 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 #11,423 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aterrar" and "aturar" 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 #11,423 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