Which to use
“caper” and “capes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,418
- “caper” frequency rank
- #28,860
- “capes” frequency rank
- 63278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caper | capes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A playful leap or jump. | plural of cape |
Where the eye mixes caper and capes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: caper vs capes
A purely visual mix-up. caper (/ˈkeɪpɚ/) and capes (/keɪps/) 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 a single letter - r in “caper” becomes s in “capes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63278, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caper is recorded at frequency rank #34,418, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkeɪpɚ/. capes is at rank #28,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced /keɪps/.
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 63278, this pair ranks #83,838 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caper vs capes
Shared letters: acep. Private to "caper": r. Private to "capes": s.
"caper" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "capes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caper" for "capes" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "caper" or "capes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "caper" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "capes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,838 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caper" and "capes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caper vs cower". 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 #83,838 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.