caganvscaigaTell them apart

Which to use

“cagan” and “caiga” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,857
“cagan” frequency rank
#6,039
“caiga” frequency rank
19896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cagan caiga
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cagar o de cagarse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de caer o de caerse.

Where the eye mixes cagan and caiga

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cagan (CVCVC) and caiga (CVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
cagan
5 ch
caiga

Why the eye confuses cagan with caiga

A purely visual mix-up. cagan ([ˈkaɣ̞ãn]) and caiga ([ˈkajɣ̞a]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cagan is recorded at frequency rank #13,857, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaɣ̞ãn]. caiga is at rank #6,039, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkajɣ̞a].

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 19896, this pair ranks #261,744 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cagan vs caiga

Shared letters: acg. Private to "cagan": n. Private to "caiga": i.

"cagan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "caiga" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caganacgan · caagn · cagann · caggan · cagna · ccagan · cgaan
  • caigaaciga · cagia · caiag · caigga · ccaiga · ciaga

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cagan" for "caiga" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaɣ̞ãn] versus [ˈkajɣ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cagan" vs "caiga" - which ranks higher?
"caiga" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,039 in our Spanish list, against #13,857 for "cagan". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cagan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caiga" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,744 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cagan" and "caiga" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cagaba vs cagan". 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 #261,744 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list