CafésvscasesTell them apart

Which to use

“Cafés” and “cases” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,661
“Cafés” frequency rank
#28,585
“cases” frequency rank
45246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Cafés cases
Definition Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Café Plural des Substantivs case

Where the eye mixes Cafés and cases

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

5 ch
Cafés
5 ch
cases

Visual trap between Cafés and cases

A purely visual mix-up. Cafés ([kaˈfeːs]) and cases ([ˈkeɪsɪz]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Cafés is recorded at frequency rank #16,661, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈfeːs]. cases is at rank #28,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkeɪsɪz].

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 45246, this pair ranks #1,359,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Cafés vs cases

Shared letters: acs. Private to "Cafés": . Private to "cases": e.

"Cafés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casesacses · caess · casess · casses · ccases · csaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Cafés" for "cases" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈfeːs] versus [ˈkeɪsɪz]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Cafés" or "cases"?
"Cafés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,661 in our German list, against #28,585 for "cases". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Cafés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cases" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,359,582 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Cafés" and "cases" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calls vs cases". 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 #1,359,582 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list