atrasadovsatreladoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,820
“atrasado” frequency rank
#39,003
“atrelado” frequency rank
44823
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature atrasado atrelado
Definition que acontece após a hora ou data prevista preso por trela ou algo semelhante

Where the eye mixes atrasado and atrelado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. atrasado and atrelado follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
atrasado
8 ch
atrelado

Look-alike desk: atrasado vs atrelado

A purely visual mix-up. atrasado (/a.tɾa.ˈza.du/) and atrelado (/ɐ.tɾɨ.ˈla.du/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

atrasado is recorded at frequency rank #5,820, classified as anadj, pronounced /a.tɾa.ˈza.du/. atrelado is at rank #39,003, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɐ.tɾɨ.ˈla.du/.

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 44823, this pair ranks #20,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of atrasado vs atrelado

Shared letters: adort. Private to "atrasado": s. Private to "atrelado": el.

"atrasado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "atrelado" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • atrasadoartasado · atarsado · atraasdo · atrasaddo · atrasaod · atrasdao · atrassado · atrrasado
  • atreladoartelado · aterlado · atrealdo · atreladdo · atrelaod · atreldao · atrellado · atrleado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "atrasado" for "atrelado" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/a.tɾa.ˈza.du/ versus /ɐ.tɾɨ.ˈla.du/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "atrasado" vs "atrelado" - which ranks higher?
"atrasado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,820 in our Portuguese list, against #39,003 for "atrelado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "atrasado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atrelado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #20,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "atrasado" and "atrelado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atrelado vs atrevido". 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 #20,598 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