cadavscairWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cada is a pronoun, cair is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cada” is a pronoun and “cair” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#144
“cada” frequency rank
#1,522
“cair” frequency rank
1666
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cada cair
Definition indica, individualizando, um elemento de um grupo ou conjunto: dar queda

Letter map: cada vs cair

Shared letters muted; letters that set cada and cair apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
cada
4 ch
cair

Role in the sentence - cada and cair

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cada is apronoun and cairaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cada is recorded at frequency rank #144, classified as apron, pronounced /ˈkɐ.dɐ/. cair is at rank #1,522, tagged as averb.

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 1666, this pair ranks #73,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cada vs cair

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "cair": ir.

"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadaacda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa
  • cairacir · cairr · cari · ccair · ciar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cada" for "cair" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cada" is a pronoun and "cair" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cada" vs "cair" - which ranks higher?
"cada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #144 in our Portuguese list, against #1,522 for "cair". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

You've compared "cada" and "cair". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cair" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cada" and "cair" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cair vs coagir". 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 #73,855 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list