Which to use
“caked” is a verb and “cates” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,542
- “caked” frequency rank
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- 89665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caked | cates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cake | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. |
Letter map: caked vs cates
Shared letters muted; letters that set caked and cates apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. caked and cates follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: caked vs cates
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: caked is averb and catesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caked is recorded at frequency rank #41,542, classified as averb, pronounced /keɪkt/. cates is at rank #48,123, tagged as anoun.
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 89665, this pair ranks #4,948 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caked vs cates
Shared letters: ace. Private to "caked": dk. Private to "cates": st.
"caked" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caked" and "cates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "caked" or "cates"?
What to do next
Pair "caked" vs "cates" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "caked" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #4,948 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caked" and "cates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cates vs catty". 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 #4,948 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.