cabsvscatConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,602
“cabs” frequency rank
#1,713
“cat” frequency rank
24315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabs cat
Definition plural of cab Terms relating to animals.

Where the eye mixes cabs and cat

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

4 ch
cabs
3 ch
cat

Visual trap between cabs and cat

A purely visual mix-up. cabs (/kæbz/) and cat (/ˈkæt/) 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 24315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabs is recorded at frequency rank #22,602, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæbz/. cat is at rank #1,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæt/.

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 24315, this pair ranks #402,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabs vs cat

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cabs": bs. Private to "cat": t.

"cabs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabsacbs · cabbs · cabss · casb · cbas · ccabs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabs" and "cat" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kæbz/ versus /ˈkæt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cabs" or "cat"?
"cat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,713 in our English list, against #22,602 for "cabs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,891 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabs" and "cat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabs vs Crabb". 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 #402,891 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list