cairvsciConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#1,522
“cair” frequency rank
#19,655
“ci” frequency rank
21177
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cair ci
Definition dar queda tu, pronome pessoal sujeito da segunda pessoa do singular:

Letter map: cair vs ci

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

4 ch
cair
2 ch
ci

Grammar separator: cair vs ci

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cair is averb and ciapronoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cair is recorded at frequency rank #1,522, classified as averb. ci is at rank #19,655, tagged as apron, pronounced /tsi/.

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 21177, this pair ranks #49,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cair vs ci

Shared letters: ci. Private to "cair": ar. Private to "ci": -.

"cair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "ci" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cairacir · cairr · cari · ccair · ciar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cair" for "ci" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cair" is a verb and "ci" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cair" or "ci" show up more?
"cair" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,522 in our Portuguese list, against #19,655 for "ci". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pair "cair" vs "ci" 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 "ci" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,164 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cair" and "ci" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ci vs ciao". 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 #49,164 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