casesvscausesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#965
“cases” frequency rank
#2,333
“causes” frequency rank
3298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cases causes
Definition plural of case plural of cause

Where the eye mixes cases and causes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cases
6 ch
causes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cases (/ˈkeɪsɪz/) and causes (/ˈkɔːzɪz/) 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 3298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cases is recorded at frequency rank #965, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkeɪsɪz/. causes is at rank #2,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔːzɪz/.

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 3298, this pair ranks #522,512 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cases vs causes

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cases": -. Private to "causes": u.

"cases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "causes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casesacses · caess · casess · casses · ccases · csaes
  • causesacuses · casues · cauess · causess · causses · ccauses · cuases

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cases" and "causes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkeɪsɪz/ versus /ˈkɔːzɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cases" or "causes"?
"cases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 in our English list, against #2,333 for "causes". 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