caíanvscaiganTell them apart

Which to use

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

#22,295
“caían” frequency rank
#14,780
“caigan” frequency rank
37075
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caían caigan
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de caer o de caerse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de caer o de caerse.

Where the eye mixes caían and caigan

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

5 ch
caían
6 ch
caigan

Look-alike desk: caían vs caigan

A purely visual mix-up. caían ([kaˈiãn]) and caigan ([ˈkajɣ̞ãn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caían is recorded at frequency rank #22,295, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈiãn]. caigan is at rank #14,780, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkajɣ̞ãn].

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 37075, this pair ranks #177,242 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caían vs caigan

Shared letters: acn. Private to "caían": í. Private to "caigan": gi.

"caían" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "caigan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caiganacigan · cagian · caiagn · caigann · caiggan · caigna · ccaigan · ciagan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caían" for "caigan" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈiãn] versus [ˈkajɣ̞ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caían" or "caigan"?
"caigan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,780 in our Spanish list, against #22,295 for "caían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caigan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,242 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caían" and "caigan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caían vs coin". 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 #177,242 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