Which to use
“café” is a noun and “cas” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,342
- “café” frequency rank
- #14,713
- “cas” frequency rank
- 25055
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | café | cas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A coffee shop; an establishment selling coffee and sometimes other non-alcoholic beverages, simple meals or snacks, with a facility to consume them on the premises. | Abbreviation of casual. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set café and cas apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: café is /ˌkæˈfeɪ/ while cas is /kæʒ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
café is recorded at frequency rank #10,342, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌkæˈfeɪ/. cas is at rank #14,713, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kæʒ/.
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 25055, this pair ranks #397,289 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of café vs cas
Shared letters: ac. Private to "café": fé. Private to "cas": s.
"café" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "café" and "cas" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "café" or "cas"?
Remembering café vs cas
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “café”; for an adjective, it's “cas”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “café” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable