carovschoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#23,462
“caro” frequency rank
#30,984
“cho” frequency rank
54446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caro cho
Definition viel Geld kostend; kostspielig von sehr hoher Temperatur; heiß

Where the eye mixes caro and cho

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

4 ch
caro
3 ch
cho

Why the eye confuses caro with cho

A purely visual mix-up. caro ([ˈkaːro]) and cho ([ʃo]) 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 54446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caro is recorded at frequency rank #23,462, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkaːro]. cho is at rank #30,984, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ʃo].

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 54446, this pair ranks #1,018,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caro vs cho

Shared letters: co. Private to "caro": ar. Private to "cho": h.

"caro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cho" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caroacro · caor · carro · ccaro · crao

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caro" for "cho" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaːro] versus [ʃo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caro" or "cho"?
"caro" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,462 in our German list, against #30,984 for "cho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "caro" and "cho" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cho" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,018,566 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caro" and "cho" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCS vs cho". 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 #1,018,566 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