Which to use
“Cafés” is a noun and “cats” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,661
- “Cafés” frequency rank
- #28,127
- “cats” frequency rank
- 44788
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Cafés | cats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Café | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs cat |
Where the eye mixes Cafés and cats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Cafés runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against cats's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Cafés with cats
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Cafés is [kaˈfeːs] while cats is [kæts]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44788, 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]. cats is at rank #28,127, tagged as averb, pronounced [kæts].
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 44788, this pair ranks #1,374,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Cafés vs cats
Shared letters: acs. Private to "Cafés": fé. Private to "cats": t.
"Cafés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cats ← cast · catss · catts · ccats · ctas
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Cafés" for "cats" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "Cafés" or "cats" show up more?
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 "Cafés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,374,678 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Cafés" and "cats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carr vs cats". 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 #1,374,678 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.