casesvscashWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#965
“cases” frequency rank
#1,264
“cash” frequency rank
2229
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cases cash
Definition plural of case Money in the form of notes or bills and coins, as opposed to checks, credit or electronic transactions.

Where the eye mixes cases and cash

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cases
4 ch
cash

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cases (/ˈkeɪsɪz/) and cash (/kæʃ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cases is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkeɪsɪz/. cash is at rank #1,264, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kæʃ/.

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 2229, this pair ranks #525,518 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cases vs cash

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cases": e. Private to "cash": h.

"cases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casesacses · caess · casess · casses · ccases · csaes
  • cashacsh · cahs · cashh · cassh · ccash · csah

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cases" and "cash" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkeɪsɪz/ versus /kæʃ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cases" or "cash"?
"cases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our English list, against #1,264 for "cash". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list