catersvscavesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,701
“caters” frequency rank
#11,354
“caves” frequency rank
37055
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caters caves
Definition bell changes rung on nine bells plural of cave

Letter map: caters vs caves

Shared letters muted; letters that set caters and caves apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
caters
5 ch
caves

Spelling & dictionary notes on caters vs caves

caters and caves 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37055, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caters is recorded at frequency rank #25,701, classified as anoun. caves is at rank #11,354, tagged as anoun, pronounced /keɪvz/.

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 37055, this pair ranks #297,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caters vs caves

Shared letters: aces. Private to "caters": rt. Private to "caves": v.

"caters" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "caves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • catersacters · caetrs · caterrs · caterss · catesr · catres · catters · ccaters
  • cavesacves · caevs · cavess · cavse · cavves · ccaves · cvaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caters" for "caves" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "caters" vs "caves" - which ranks higher?
"caves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,354 in our English list, against #25,701 for "caters". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "caters" and "caves".

  • Full dictionary entry for "caters" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #297,836 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caters" and "caves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caters vs cates". 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 #297,836 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list