CésarvscitarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: César is a noun, citar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“César” is a noun and “citar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,218
“César” frequency rank
#5,831
“citar” frequency rank
10049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature César citar
Definition prenome masculino provocar (o toiro) para realizar qualquer sorte tauromáquica

Where the eye mixes César and citar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
César
5 ch
citar

Why the eye confuses César with citar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: César is /'sɛ.zaɾ/ while citar is /si.ˈtaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

César is recorded at frequency rank #4,218, classified as anoun, pronounced /'sɛ.zaɾ/. citar is at rank #5,831, tagged as averb, pronounced /si.ˈtaɾ/.

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 10049, this pair ranks #63,173 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of César vs citar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "César": . Private to "citar": it.

"César" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "citar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citarccitar · ciatr · citarr · citra · cittar · ctiar · ictar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "César" for "citar" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "César" is a noun and "citar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "César" or "citar"?
"César" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,218 in our Portuguese list, against #5,831 for "citar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "César" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "citar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,173 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "César" and "citar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciao vs citar". 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 #63,173 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