Which to use
“cast” is a verb and “cat” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,686
- “cast” frequency rank
- #1,713
- “cat” frequency rank
- 3399
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cast | cat |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To move, or be moved, away. | Terms relating to animals. |
Where the eye mixes cast and cat
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cast is /kɑːst/ while cat is /ˈkæt/. 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 3399, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cast is recorded at frequency rank #1,686, classified as averb, pronounced /kɑːst/. cat is at rank #1,713, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæt/.
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 3399, this pair ranks #522,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cast vs cat
Shared letters: act. Private to "cast": s. Private to "cat": -.
"cast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "cat" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cast ← acst · casst · castt · ccast · csat