Which to use
“cair” is a verb and “cal” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,522
- “cair” frequency rank
- #11,223
- “cal” frequency rank
- 12745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cair | cal |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | dar queda | nome vulgar do óxido de cálcio (também chamado cal viva, cal virgem ou cal cáustica) |
Letter map: cair vs cal
Shared letters muted; letters that set cair and cal apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for cair / cal
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cair is averb and calanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cair is recorded at frequency rank #1,522, classified as averb. cal is at rank #11,223, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaɫ/.
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 12745, this pair ranks #59,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cair vs cal
Shared letters: ac. Private to "cair": ir. Private to "cal": l.
"cair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "cal" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cair ← acir · cairr · cari · ccair · ciar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cair" for "cal" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cair" vs "cal" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "cair" vs "cal" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "cair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cal" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cair" and "cal" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cal vs chau". 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 #59,748 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.