catarvscitarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,482
“catar” frequency rank
#7,522
“citar” frequency rank
41004
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature catar citar
Definition Probar algo con el sentido del gusto, especialmente los alimentos. Avisar, prevenir, emplazar a alguno, señalándole día, hora y lugar para tratar de algún negocio.

Where the eye mixes catar and citar

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

Visual trap between catar and citar

A purely visual mix-up. catar ([kaˈt̪aɾ]) and citar ([siˈt̪aɾ]) 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 a single letter - a in “catar” becomes i in “citar”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41004, 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]. citar is at rank #7,522, tagged as averb, pronounced [siˈt̪aɾ].

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 41004, this pair ranks #156,030 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of catar vs citar

Shared letters: acrt. Private to "catar": -. Private to "citar": i.

"catar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "citar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cataractar · caatr · catarr · cattar · ccatar · ctaar
  • citarccitar · ciatr · citarr · citra · cittar · ctiar · ictar · sitar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "catar" for "citar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈt̪aɾ] versus [siˈt̪aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "catar" vs "citar" - which ranks higher?
"citar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,522 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "catar" and "citar" 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 "citar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #156,030 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "catar" and "citar" 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 #156,030 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