casedvscatesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cased is a verb, cates is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cased” is a verb and “cates” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,121
“cased” frequency rank
#48,123
“cates” frequency rank
96244
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cased cates
Definition simple past and past participle of case Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cased and cates apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cased
5 ch
cates

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cased is averb and catesanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 96244, 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/. 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 96244, this pair ranks #611 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cased vs cates

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cased": d. Private to "cates": t.

"cased" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casedacsed · caesd · casde · casedd · cassed · ccased · csaed
  • catesactes · caets · catess · cattes · ccates · ctaes

Frequency comparison

cased#48,121
cates#48,123

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cased" and "cates" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cased" is a verb and "cates" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cased" or "cates"?
"cased" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #48,121 in our English list, against #48,123 for "cates". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cased vs cates

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “cased”; for a noun, it's “cates”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cased” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list