cachevscashewTell them apart

Which to use

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

#12,382
“cache” frequency rank
#39,236
“cashew” frequency rank
51618
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cache cashew
Definition A store, protected and often hidden in some way, of things that may be required in the future, such that they can be retrieved rapidly. A tree, Anacardium occidentale, native to northeastern Brazil, now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.

Where the eye mixes cache and cashew

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cache
6 ch
cashew

Look-alike desk: cache vs cashew

A purely visual mix-up. cache (/kæʃ/) and cashew (/ˈkæʃuː/) 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 51618, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cache is recorded at frequency rank #12,382, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæʃ/. cashew is at rank #39,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæʃuː/.

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 51618, this pair ranks #163,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cache vs cashew

Shared letters: aceh. Private to "cache": -. Private to "cashew": sw.

"cache" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cashew" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacheacche · cacche · caceh · cachhe · cahce · ccache · ccahe
  • cashewacshew · cahsew · casehw · casheww · cashhew · cashwe · casshew · ccashew

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cache" and "cashew" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kæʃ/ versus /ˈkæʃuː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cache" or "cashew"?
"cache" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,382 in our English list, against #39,236 for "cashew". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cashew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #163,964 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cache" and "cashew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cased vs cashew". 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 #163,964 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