Which to use
“cash” is a noun and “cost” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,264
- “cash” frequency rank
- #568
- “cost” frequency rank
- 1832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cash | cost |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Money in the form of notes or bills and coins, as opposed to checks, credit or electronic transactions. | To incur a charge of; to require payment of a (specified) price. |
Where the eye mixes cash and cost
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cash is /kæʃ/ while cost is /ˈkɒst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cash is recorded at frequency rank #1,264, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæʃ/. cost is at rank #568, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈkɒst/.
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 1832, this pair ranks #526,531 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cash vs cost
Shared letters: cs. Private to "cash": ah. Private to "cost": ot.
"cash" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cost" · 4 letters · shape CVCC