Which to use
“capes” and “cues” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,860
- “capes” frequency rank
- #14,305
- “cues” frequency rank
- 43165
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | capes | cues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cape | plural of cue |
Where the eye mixes capes and cues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between capes and cues
A purely visual mix-up. capes (/keɪps/) and cues (/ˈkjuːz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43165, 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/. cues is at rank #14,305, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkjuːz/.
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 43165, this pair ranks #242,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of capes vs cues
Shared letters: ces. Private to "capes": ap. Private to "cues": u.
"capes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "capes" and "cues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "capes" or "cues" 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 "capes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #242,602 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "capes" and "cues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capes vs cates". 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 #242,602 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.