citarvscitoTell them apart

Which to use

“citar” and “cito” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,831
“citar” frequency rank
#25,237
“cito” frequency rank
31068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citar cito
Definition provocar (o toiro) para realizar qualquer sorte tauromáquica fazer mover-se, excitar.

Where the eye mixes citar and cito

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

5 ch
citar
4 ch
cito

Visual trap between citar and cito

A purely visual mix-up. citar (/si.ˈtaɾ/) and cito (/ˈki.toː/) 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 31068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citar is recorded at frequency rank #5,831, classified as averb, pronounced /si.ˈtaɾ/. cito is at rank #25,237, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈki.toː/.

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 31068, this pair ranks #37,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of citar vs cito

Shared letters: cit. Private to "citar": ar. Private to "cito": o.

"citar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cito" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citarccitar · ciatr · citarr · citra · cittar · ctiar · ictar
  • citoccito · ciot · citto · ctio · icto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "citar" for "cito" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/si.ˈtaɾ/ versus /ˈki.toː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "citar" vs "cito" - which ranks higher?
"citar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,831 in our Portuguese list, against #25,237 for "cito". 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 "citar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cito" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,144 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citar" and "cito" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciao vs cito". 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 #37,144 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