caídovscándidoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,224
“caído” frequency rank
#33,057
“cándido” frequency rank
37281
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caído cándido
Definition Desfallecido, amilanado. Que no tiene maldad ni intenciones ocultas en sus acciones.

Where the eye mixes caído and cándido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caído runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against cándido's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
caído
7 ch
cándido

Look-alike desk: caído vs cándido

A purely visual mix-up. caído ([kaˈið̞o]) and cándido ([ˈkãn̪d̪ið̞o]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caído is recorded at frequency rank #4,224, classified as anadj, pronounced [kaˈið̞o]. cándido is at rank #33,057, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkãn̪d̪ið̞o].

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 37281, this pair ranks #176,126 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caído vs cándido

Shared letters: cdo. Private to "caído": aí. Private to "cándido": iná.

"caído" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "cándido" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caído" and "cándido" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈið̞o] versus [ˈkãn̪d̪ið̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caído" vs "cándido" - which ranks higher?
"caído" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,224 in our Spanish list, against #33,057 for "cándido". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caído" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cándido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,126 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caído" and "cándido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cándido vs cansino". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #176,126 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