capesvscasksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,860
“capes” frequency rank
#41,038
“casks” frequency rank
69898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capes casks
Definition plural of cape plural of cask

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set capes and casks apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
capes
5 ch
casks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. capes (/keɪps/) and casks (/kɑːsks/) 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 69898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capes is recorded at frequency rank #28,860, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪps/. casks is at rank #41,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑːsks/.

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 69898, this pair ranks #52,692 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of capes vs casks

Shared letters: acs. Private to "capes": ep. Private to "casks": k.

"capes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "casks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capesacpes · caeps · capess · cappes · capse · ccapes · cpaes
  • casksacsks · cakss · caskks · caskss · cassks · ccasks · csaks

Frequency comparison

capes#28,860
casks#41,038

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capes" and "casks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/keɪps/ versus /kɑːsks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "capes" or "casks"?
"capes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,860 in our English list, against #41,038 for "casks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering capes vs casks

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “capes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list