Which to use
“cased” is a verb and “cask” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,121
- “cased” frequency rank
- #29,208
- “cask” frequency rank
- 77329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cased | cask |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of case | A large barrel for the storage of liquid, especially of alcoholic drinks. (See a diagram of cask sizes.) |
Where the eye mixes cased and cask
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses cased with cask
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cased is /keɪst/ while cask is /kɑːsk/. 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 77329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cased is recorded at frequency rank #48,121, classified as averb, pronounced /keɪst/. cask is at rank #29,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑːsk/.
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 77329, this pair ranks #27,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cased vs cask
Shared letters: acs. Private to "cased": de. Private to "cask": k.
"cased" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cask" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cased" and "cask" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cased" vs "cask" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cased" and "cask" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cased" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cask" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cased" and "cask" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cased vs clasped". 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 #27,590 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.