atraçãovsatrasoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#4,879
“atração” frequency rank
#4,206
“atraso” frequency rank
9085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atração atraso
Definition efeito ou ação de atrair ato ou efeito de atrasar(-se)

Where the eye mixes atração and atraso

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

7 ch
atração
6 ch
atraso

Why the eye confuses atração with atraso

A purely visual mix-up. atração (/ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/) and atraso (/ɐ.ˈtɾa.zu/) 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 9085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atração is recorded at frequency rank #4,879, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/. atraso is at rank #4,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtɾa.zu/.

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 9085, this pair ranks #64,470 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of atração vs atraso

Shared letters: aort. Private to "atração": ãç. Private to "atraso": s.

"atração" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV  ·  "atraso" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atraso ← artaso · atarso · atraos · atrasso · atrraso · atrsao · attraso · taraso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "atração" and "atraso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɐ.tɾa.ˈsɐ̃w̃/ versus /ɐ.ˈtɾa.zu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "atração" vs "atraso" - which ranks higher?
"atraso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,206 in our Portuguese list, against #4,879 for "atração". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "atração" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atraso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #64,470 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atração" and "atraso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arado vs atraso". 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 #64,470 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