Which to use
“cate” and “crates” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,700
- “cate” frequency rank
- #20,077
- “crates” frequency rank
- 45777
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cate | crates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A delicacy or item of food. | plural of crate |
Where the eye mixes cate and crates
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cate and crates
A purely visual mix-up. cate (/keɪt/) and crates (/kɹeɪts/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cate is recorded at frequency rank #25,700, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪt/. crates is at rank #20,077, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪts/.
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 45777, this pair ranks #218,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cate vs crates
Shared letters: acet. Private to "cate": -. Private to "crates": rs.
"cate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "crates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cate" and "crates" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cate" or "crates"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "cate" and "crates" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #218,017 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cate" and "crates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cate vs CGT". 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 #218,017 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.