Which to use
“care” and “cole” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,402
- “care” frequency rank
- #16,386
- “cole” frequency rank
- 27788
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | care | cole |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sorge, Kummer | Nominativ Plural des Substantivs cola |
Where the eye mixes care and cole
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between care and cole
A purely visual mix-up. care ([keə]) and cole ([ˈkɔlɛ]) 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 27788, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
care is recorded at frequency rank #11,402, classified as anoun, pronounced [keə]. cole is at rank #16,386, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɔlɛ].
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 27788, this pair ranks #1,795,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of care vs cole
Shared letters: ce. Private to "care": ar. Private to "cole": lo.
"care" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cole" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "care" and "cole" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "care" vs "cole" - which ranks higher?
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 "care" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cole" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,795,890 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "care" and "cole" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cali vs cole". 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 #1,795,890 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.