Which to use
“campus” and “caucus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,928
- “campus” frequency rank
- #13,295
- “caucus” frequency rank
- 16223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | campus | caucus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The grounds or property of a school, college, university, business, church, or hospital, often understood to include buildings and other structures. | A usually preliminary meeting of party members to nominate candidates for public office or delegates to be sent to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding policy. |
Where the eye mixes campus and caucus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses campus with caucus
A purely visual mix-up. campus (/ˈkæmpəs/) and caucus (/ˈkɔː.kəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
campus is recorded at frequency rank #2,928, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæmpəs/. caucus is at rank #13,295, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔː.kəs/.
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 16223, this pair ranks #459,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of campus vs caucus
Shared letters: acsu. Private to "campus": mp. Private to "caucus": -.
"campus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "caucus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "campus" and "caucus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "campus" or "caucus" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "campus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caucus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #459,097 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "campus" and "caucus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "callus vs caucus". 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 #459,097 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.