cablevscallsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cable” and “calls” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,776
“cable” frequency rank
#1,295
“calls” frequency rank
4071
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cable calls
Definition A long object used to make a physical connection. plural of call

Where the eye mixes cable and calls

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

5 ch
cable
5 ch
calls

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cable (/ˈkeɪ.bəl/) and calls (/kɔːlz/) 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 4071, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cable is recorded at frequency rank #2,776, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkeɪ.bəl/. calls is at rank #1,295, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔːlz/.

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 4071, this pair ranks #520,088 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cable vs calls

Shared letters: acl. Private to "cable": be. Private to "calls": s.

"cable" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "calls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cableacble · cabble · cabel · cablle · calbe · cbale · ccable · cible
  • callsaclls · callss · cals · calsl · ccalls · clals

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cable" and "calls" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkeɪ.bəl/ versus /kɔːlz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cable" or "calls"?
"calls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,295 in our English list, against #2,776 for "cable". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list