caívsconTell them apart

Quick tell: caí is a verb, con is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caí” is a verb and “con” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,538
“caí” frequency rank
#16
“con” frequency rank
11554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caí con
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de caer o de caerse. En compañía de.

Where the eye mixes caí and con

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
caí
3 ch
con

Why the eye confuses caí with con

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caí is [kaˈi] while con is [kõn]. 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 (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caí is recorded at frequency rank #11,538, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈi]. con is at rank #16, tagged as aprep, pronounced [kõn].

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 11554, this pair ranks #294,691 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caí vs con

Shared letters: c. Private to "caí": . Private to "con": no.

"caí" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "con" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caí" and "con" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caí" is a verb and "con" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caí" or "con" show up more?
"con" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16 in our Spanish list, against #11,538 for "caí". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caí" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "con" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,691 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caí" and "con" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caí vs cuc". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #294,691 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