catarvscitanTell them apart

Which to use

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

#33,482
“catar” frequency rank
#15,308
“citan” frequency rank
48790
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature catar citan
Definition Probar algo con el sentido del gusto, especialmente los alimentos. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de citar o de citarse.

Where the eye mixes catar and citan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. catar and citan follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
catar
5 ch
citan

Visual trap between catar and citan

A purely visual mix-up. catar ([kaˈt̪aɾ]) and citan ([ˈsit̪ãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

catar is recorded at frequency rank #33,482, classified as averb, pronounced [kaˈt̪aɾ]. citan is at rank #15,308, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈsit̪ãn].

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 48790, this pair ranks #112,524 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of catar vs citan

Shared letters: act. Private to "catar": r. Private to "citan": in.

"catar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "citan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • catar ← actar · caatr · catarr · cattar · ccatar · ctaar
  • citan ← ccitan · ciatn · citann · cittan · ctian · ictan · sitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "catar" and "citan" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈt̪aɾ] versus [ˈsit̪ãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "catar" or "citan" show up more?
"citan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,308 in our Spanish list, against #33,482 for "catar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "catar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "citan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #112,524 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "catar" and "citan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catar 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 #112,524 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