Which to use
“caption” and “cation” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,822
- “caption” frequency rank
- #37,370
- “cation” frequency rank
- 48192
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caption | cation |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The descriptive heading or title, of a document or part thereof. | A positively charged ion: one that would be attracted to the cathode in electrolysis. |
Where the eye mixes caption and cation
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between caption and cation
A purely visual mix-up. caption (/ˈkæp.ʃən/) and cation (/ˈkætˌaɪ.ən/) 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 48192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caption is recorded at frequency rank #10,822, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæp.ʃən/. cation is at rank #37,370, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkætˌaɪ.ən/.
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 48192, this pair ranks #195,380 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caption vs cation
Shared letters: acinot. Private to "caption": p. Private to "cation": -.
"caption" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "cation" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caption" for "cation" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "caption" or "cation" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "caption" and "cation" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caption" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cation" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #195,380 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caption" and "cation" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cation vs curation". 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 #195,380 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.