casevscureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“case” and “cure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#255
“case” frequency rank
#4,149
“cure” frequency rank
4404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature case cure
Definition An actual event, situation, or fact. A method, device or medication that restores good health.

Where the eye mixes case and cure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
case
4 ch
cure

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. case (/keɪs/) and cure (/kjɔː(r)/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

case is recorded at frequency rank #255, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪs/. cure is at rank #4,149, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kjɔː(r)/.

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 4404, this pair ranks #519,052 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of case vs cure

Shared letters: ce. Private to "case": as. Private to "cure": ru.

"case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cure" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caseacse · caes · casse · ccase · csae
  • cureccure · crue · cuer · curre · ucre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "case" and "cure" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/keɪs/ versus /kjɔː(r)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "case" or "cure"?
"case" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #255 in our English list, against #4,149 for "cure". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list