caído vs cedo, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“caído” is an adjective and “cedo” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,017
“caído” frequency rank: #1,043
“cedo” frequency rank: 9060
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	caído	cedo
Definition	que caiu	Antes da hora desejada ou costumeira, prematuramente;

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set caído and cedo apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

caído

4 ch

cedo

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: caído is anadjective and cedoanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9060, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caído is recorded at frequency rank #8,017, classified as anadj. cedo is at rank #1,043, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈse.du/.

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 9060, this pair ranks #64,499 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caído vs cedo

Shared letters: cdo. Private to "caído": aí. Private to "cedo": e.

"caído" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "cedo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

cedo ← ccedo · cdeo · ceddo · ceod · ecdo

Frequency comparison

caído#8,017

cedo#1,043

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caído" and "cedo" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caído" is an adjective and "cedo" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "caído" or "cedo"?

"cedo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,043 in our Portuguese list, against #8,017 for "caído". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering caído vs cedo

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “caído”; for an adverb, it's “cedo”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “caído” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable