Which to use
“caress” and “cates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,098
- “caress” frequency rank
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- 79221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caress | cates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. |
Letter map: caress vs cates
Shared letters muted; letters that set caress and cates apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. caress runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against cates's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: caress and cates
caress and cates are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caress is recorded at frequency rank #31,098, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəˈɹɛs/. cates is at rank #48,123, tagged as anoun.
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 79221, this pair ranks #22,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caress vs cates
Shared letters: aces. Private to "caress": r. Private to "cates": t.
"caress" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caress" for "cates" ever safe?
Frequency check: "caress" vs "cates" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "caress" and "cates". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "caress" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caress" and "cates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cates vs catty". 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 #22,636 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.