citarvscuidarWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#5,831
“citar” frequency rank
#1,705
“cuidar” frequency rank
7536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citar cuidar
Definition provocar (o toiro) para realizar qualquer sorte tauromáquica imaginar

Where the eye mixes citar and cuidar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
citar
6 ch
cuidar

Visual trap between citar and cuidar

A purely visual mix-up. citar (/si.ˈtaɾ/) and cuidar (/kuj.ˈdaɾ/) 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 7536, 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/. cuidar is at rank #1,705, tagged as averb, pronounced /kuj.ˈdaɾ/.

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 7536, this pair ranks #66,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of citar vs cuidar

Shared letters: acir. Private to "citar": t. Private to "cuidar": du.

"citar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cuidar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citarccitar · ciatr · citarr · citra · cittar · ctiar · ictar
  • cuidarccuidar · ciudar · cudiar · cuiadr · cuidarr · cuiddar · cuidra · ucidar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "citar" and "cuidar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/si.ˈtaɾ/ versus /kuj.ˈdaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "citar" or "cuidar"?
"cuidar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,705 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.

Useful next steps

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 "cuidar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #66,576 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citar" and "cuidar" 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 #66,576 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