Which to use
“cat” and “cates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,713
- “cat” frequency rank
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- 49836
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cat | cates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terms relating to animals. | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. |
Letter map: cat vs cates
Shared letters muted; letters that set cat and cates apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: cat and cates
cat and cates are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “cat” sits inside “cates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cat is recorded at frequency rank #1,713, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkæt/. 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 49836, this pair ranks #179,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cat vs cates
Shared letters: act. Private to "cat": -. Private to "cates": es.
"cat" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cates ← actes · caets · catess · cattes · ccates · ctaes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cat" and "cates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "cat" or "cates" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "cat" and "cates". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "cat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cat" and "cates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cates vs catty". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #179,833 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.