Which to use
“Cairo” and “cais” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,303
- “Cairo” frequency rank
- #10,845
- “cais” frequency rank
- 20148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Cairo | cais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | capital do Egito, país no qual é a maior cidade, posto que também ocupa no chamado mundo árabe | lugar à beira-mar, na margem do rio, nas estações de caminho-de-ferro ou do metropolitano apropriado para o embarque e desembarque de pessoas ou mercadorias |
Where the eye mixes Cairo and cais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Cairo with cais
A purely visual mix-up. Cairo (/ˈkaj.ɾu/) and cais (/ˈkajʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Cairo is recorded at frequency rank #9,303, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaj.ɾu/. cais is at rank #10,845, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkajʃ/.
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 20148, this pair ranks #50,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Cairo vs cais
Shared letters: aci. Private to "Cairo": or. Private to "cais": s.
"Cairo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "cais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Cairo" for "cais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Cairo" vs "cais" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Cairo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Cairo" and "cais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cairo 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 #50,443 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.