caídovsCatoTell them apart

Quick tell: caído is a adjective, Cato is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caído” is an adjective and “Cato” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,224
“caído” frequency rank
#33,483
“Cato” frequency rank
37707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caído Cato
Definition Desfallecido, amilanado. Hipocorístico de Ricardo.

Where the eye mixes caído and Cato

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caído runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against Cato's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
caído
4 ch
Cato

Why the eye confuses caído with Cato

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caído is [kaˈið̞o] while Cato is [ˈkat̪o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37707, 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]. Cato is at rank #33,483, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈkat̪o].

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 37707, this pair ranks #173,892 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caído vs Cato

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caído": . Private to "Cato": t.

"caído" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "Cato" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Catocaot · catto · ccato · ctao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caído" for "Cato" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caído" is an adjective and "Cato" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "caído" vs "Cato" - which ranks higher?
"caído" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,224 in our Spanish list, against #33,483 for "Cato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caído" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Cato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,892 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caído" and "Cato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cato vs catre". 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 #173,892 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