caigovschicoWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: caigo is a verb, chico is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caigo” is a verb and “chico” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,089
“caigo” frequency rank
#1,235
“chico” frequency rank
15324
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caigo chico
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de caer o de caerse. Se dice de lo que tiene un tamaño reducido o menor en comparación con otras cosas o seres vivos.

Where the eye mixes caigo and chico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
caigo
5 ch
chico

Look-alike desk: caigo vs chico

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caigo is [ˈkajɣ̞o] while chico is [ˈt͡ʃiko]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15324, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caigo is recorded at frequency rank #14,089, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkajɣ̞o]. chico is at rank #1,235, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃiko].

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 15324, this pair ranks #280,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caigo vs chico

Shared letters: cio. Private to "caigo": ag. Private to "chico": h.

"caigo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "chico" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caigoacigo · cagio · caiggo · caiog · ccaigo · ciago
  • chicocchico · chcio · chhico · chicco · chioc · cihco · hcico

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caigo" and "chico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caigo" is a verb and "chico" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "caigo" vs "chico" - which ranks higher?
"chico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,235 in our Spanish list, against #14,089 for "caigo". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caigo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "chico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #280,626 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caigo" and "chico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caigo vs calco". 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 #280,626 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