citevscomeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#34,003
“cite” frequency rank
#2,700
“come” frequency rank
36703
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cite come
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de citar. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de comer.

Where the eye mixes cite and come

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cite
4 ch
come

Why the eye confuses cite with come

A purely visual mix-up. cite ([ˈsit̪e]) and come ([ˈkome]) 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 36703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cite is recorded at frequency rank #34,003, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsit̪e]. come is at rank #2,700, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkome].

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 36703, this pair ranks #179,261 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cite vs come

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cite": it. Private to "come": mo.

"cite" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "come" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citeccite · ciet · citte · ctie · icte
  • comeccome · cmoe · coem · ocme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cite" for "come" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsit̪e] versus [ˈkome]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cite" vs "come" - which ranks higher?
"come" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,700 in our Spanish list, against #34,003 for "cite". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "come" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #179,261 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cite" and "come" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catre vs cite". 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 #179,261 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