Which to use
“cared” is a verb and “catered” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,942
- “cared” frequency rank
- #25,314
- “catered” frequency rank
- 31256
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cared | catered |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of care | Having catering provided |
Where the eye mixes cared and catered
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cared vs catered
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cared is /kɛɹd/ while catered is /ˈkeɪtəd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cared is recorded at frequency rank #5,942, classified as averb, pronounced /kɛɹd/. catered is at rank #25,314, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkeɪtəd/.
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 31256, this pair ranks #347,662 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cared vs catered
Shared letters: acder. Private to "cared": -. Private to "catered": t.
"cared" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "catered" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cared" and "catered" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cared" vs "catered" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cared" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "catered" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,662 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cared" and "catered" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catered vs caterer". 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 #347,662 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.