Which to use
“atrás” is an adverb and “atuar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #441
- “atrás” frequency rank
- #4,207
- “atuar” frequency rank
- 4648
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | atrás | atuar |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | detrás, por trás | exercer ação |
Where the eye mixes atrás and atuar
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. atrás (VCCVC) and atuar (VCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: atrás vs atuar
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: atrás is /ɐ.ˈtɾaʃ/ while atuar is /ɐ.ˈtwaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
atrás is recorded at frequency rank #441, classified as anadv, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtɾaʃ/. atuar is at rank #4,207, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɐ.ˈtwaɾ/.
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 4648, this pair ranks #70,180 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of atrás vs atuar
Shared letters: art. Private to "atrás": sá. Private to "atuar": u.
"atrás" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "atuar" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- atuar ← ataur · attuar · atuarr · atura · autar · tauar
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "atrás" and "atuar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "atrás" or "atuar" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "atrás" and "atuar" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "atrás" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "atuar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #70,180 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "atrás" and "atuar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atar vs atuar". 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 #70,180 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.