CanavsCathWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,034
“Cana” frequency rank
#32,725
“Cath” frequency rank
73759
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Cana Cath
Definition The site where Jesus miraculously turned water into wine. A diminutive of the female given name Catherine.

Where the eye mixes Cana and Cath

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Cana
4 ch
Cath

Visual trap between Cana and Cath

A purely visual mix-up. Cana (/ˈkeɪnə/) and Cath (/kæθ/) 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 73759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Cana is recorded at frequency rank #41,034, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈkeɪnə/. Cath is at rank #32,725, tagged as aname, pronounced /kæθ/.

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 73759, this pair ranks #38,523 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Cana vs Cath

Shared letters: ac. Private to "Cana": n. Private to "Cath": ht.

"Cana" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "Cath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Canaacna · caan · canna · ccana
  • Cathacth · cathh · catth · ccath · ctah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Cana" and "Cath" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkeɪnə/ versus /kæθ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "Cana" or "Cath" show up more?
"Cath" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,725 in our English list, against #41,034 for "Cana". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Cana" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Cath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,523 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Cana" and "Cath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cana vs cuny". 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 #38,523 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