cairvscalmConfusable pair

Quick tell: cair is a verb, calm is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,522
“cair” frequency rank
#34,176
“calm” frequency rank
35698
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cair calm
Definition dar queda calmo

Letter map: cair vs calm

Shared letters muted; letters that set cair and calm apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. cair (CVVC) and calm (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
cair
4 ch
calm

Role in the sentence - cair and calm

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cair is averb and calmanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cair is recorded at frequency rank #1,522, classified as averb. calm is at rank #34,176, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɑːm/.

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 35698, this pair ranks #31,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cair vs calm

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cair": ir. Private to "calm": lm.

"cair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "calm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cair ← acir · cairr · cari · ccair · ciar
  • calm ← aclm · callm · calmm · caml · ccalm · clam

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cair" and "calm" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cair" is a verb and "calm" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cair" or "calm"?
"cair" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,522 in our Portuguese list, against #34,176 for "calm". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "calm" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,320 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cair" and "calm" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calm vs cham". 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 #31,320 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