Which to use
“cares” is a verb and “claret” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,606
- “cares” frequency rank
- #39,247
- “claret” frequency rank
- 42853
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cares | claret |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of care | A dry red wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France, or a similar wine made elsewhere. |
Where the eye mixes cares and claret
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cares runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against claret's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cares vs claret
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cares is /kɛɹz/ while claret is /ˈklæɹɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42853, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cares is recorded at frequency rank #3,606, classified as averb, pronounced /kɛɹz/. claret is at rank #39,247, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈklæɹɪt/.
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 42853, this pair ranks #245,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cares vs claret
Shared letters: acer. Private to "cares": s. Private to "claret": lt.
"cares" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "claret" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cares" for "claret" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cares" or "claret"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "claret" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,497 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cares" and "claret" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Carew vs claret". 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 #245,497 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.