cagarvscalarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,631
“cagar” frequency rank
#44,601
“calar” frequency rank
51232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cagar calar
Definition Expulsar del cuerpo las heces de la digestión. Penetrar un líquido en un cuerpo permeable.

Where the eye mixes cagar and calar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cagar
5 ch
calar

Visual trap between cagar and calar

A purely visual mix-up. cagar ([kaˈɣ̞aɾ]) and calar ([kaˈlaɾ]) 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 a single letter - g in “cagar” becomes l in “calar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cagar is recorded at frequency rank #6,631, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈɣ̞aɾ]. calar is at rank #44,601, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaˈlaɾ].

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 51232, this pair ranks #98,945 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cagar vs calar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cagar": g. Private to "calar": l.

"cagar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "calar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cagaracgar · caagr · cagarr · caggar · ccagar · cgaar
  • calaraclar · caalr · calarr · ccalar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cagar" for "calar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈɣ̞aɾ] versus [kaˈlaɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cagar" or "calar" show up more?
"cagar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,631 in our Spanish list, against #44,601 for "calar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cagar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #98,945 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cagar" and "calar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calar vs casará". 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 #98,945 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