Which to use
“cates” is a noun and “catty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- #49,246
- “catty” frequency rank
- 97369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cates | catty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. | With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset, particularly among women. |
Letter map: cates vs catty
Shared letters muted; letters that set cates and catty apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. cates (CVCVC) and catty (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: cates vs catty
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cates is anoun and cattyanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 97369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cates is recorded at frequency rank #48,123, classified as anoun. catty is at rank #49,246, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkæti/.
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 97369, this pair ranks #323 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cates vs catty
Shared letters: act. Private to "cates": es. Private to "catty": y.
"cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "catty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cates" and "catty" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cates" or "catty"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cates" and "catty".
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "catty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cates" and "catty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Cally 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 #323 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.