capovscaseTell them apart

Quick tell: capo is a adjective, case is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“capo” is an adjective and “case” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,507
“capo” frequency rank
#7,447
“case” frequency rank
51954
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capo case
Definition leitend, Chef-, Haupt- Fall m

Where the eye mixes capo and case

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
capo
4 ch
case

Visual trap between capo and case

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capo is [ˈkaːpo] while case is [keɪs]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51954, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capo is recorded at frequency rank #44,507, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkaːpo]. case is at rank #7,447, tagged as anoun, pronounced [keɪs].

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 51954, this pair ranks #1,115,591 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capo vs case

Shared letters: ac. Private to "capo": op. Private to "case": es.

"capo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capoacpo · caop · cappo · ccapo · cpao
  • caseacse · caes · casse · ccase · csae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capo" and "case" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capo" is an adjective and "case" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "capo" or "case" show up more?
"case" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,447 in our German list, against #44,507 for "capo". 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 "capo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "case" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,115,591 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capo" and "case" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capo vs carr". 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 #1,115,591 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