Cache or cash?
cache is a noun meaning “Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for…”; cash is a noun meaning “Liquid assets, money that can be traded quickly, as distinct from assets that…”. They sound the same (/kæʃ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) cash is about 19 times as common as cache.
What is the difference between cache and cash?
| cache | cash | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb, adjective |
| Meaning | Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for practical reasons A fast temporary storage where recently or frequently used information is stored to avoid having to reload it from a slower storage medium To place in a cache | Money in the form of notes or bills and coins, as opposed to checks, credit or electronic transactions Liquid assets, money that can be traded quickly, as distinct from assets that are invested and cannot be easily exchanged To exchange (a check/cheque) for money in the form of notes/bills |
| Example | Near-synonym: stash | How are you off for cash? After you bounced those checks last time, they want to be paid in cash |
| Forms | caches | cashes |
| Pronunciation | /kæʃ/ /keɪʃ/ | /ˈkæʃ/ [ˈkʰæʃ] /ˈkaʃ/ |
| In writing | 4.3 times per million words | 83 times per million words |
Sources: cache and cash in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of cache and cash
cache
- 1
Such a store of physical supplies, placed by humans or other animals for practical reasons
Near-synonym: stash
- 2
To place in a cache
- 3
A fast temporary storage where recently or frequently used information is stored to avoid having to reload it from a slower storage medium
- 4
To store data in a cache
- 5
A container containing treasure in a global treasure-hunt game
- 6
To participate in geocaching
- 7
To hide or seek a geocache
- 8
to store up, stockpile
cash
- 1
Money in the form of notes or bills and coins, as opposed to checks, credit or electronic transactions
How are you off for cash? After you bounced those checks last time, they want to be paid in cash
- 2
To exchange (a check/cheque) for money in the form of notes/bills
- 3
slangGreat; excellent; cool
- 4
The low-denomination coin of southern India until 1818
- 5
To disband. To do away with, to kill
- 6
Acronym of calcium aluminium silicate hydrate
- 7
Liquid assets, money that can be traded quickly, as distinct from assets that are invested and cannot be easily exchanged
- 8
slangTo obtain a payout from a tournament
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, cache or cash?
cache appears 4.3 times per million words; cash 83 times per million words.
cache 4.3 times per million wordscash 83 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search cache vs cash?
“cache vs cash” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“cash vs cache”, “cache or cash”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.