yatvsyesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: yat is a noun, yes is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“yat” is a noun and “yes” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,170
“yat” frequency rank
#12,166
“yes” frequency rank
56336
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yat yes
Definition esquilo sim

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set yat and yes apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
yat
3 ch
yes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: yat is /jat/ while yes is /jɛs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yat is recorded at frequency rank #44,170, classified as anoun, pronounced /jat/. yes is at rank #12,166, tagged as anadv, pronounced /jɛs/.

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 56336, this pair ranks #10,039 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of yat vs yes

Shared letters: y. Private to "yat": at. Private to "yes": es.

"yat" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "yes" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequency comparison

yat#44,170
yes#12,166

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yat" and "yes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "yat" is a noun and "yes" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "yat" or "yes"?
"yes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,166 in our Portuguese list, against #44,170 for "yat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering yat vs yes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “yat”; for an adverb, it's “yes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “yat” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list