Which to use
“cates” and “chases” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- #21,745
- “chases” frequency rank
- 69868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cates | chases |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. | plural of chase |
Letter map: cates vs chases
Shared letters muted; letters that set cates and chases apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. cates runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against chases's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: cates and chases
cates and chases 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 69868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cates is recorded at frequency rank #48,123, classified as anoun. chases is at rank #21,745, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈt͡ʃeɪsɪz/.
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 69868, this pair ranks #52,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cates vs chases
Shared letters: aces. Private to "cates": t. Private to "chases": h.
"cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "chases" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cates" and "chases" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "cates" or "chases" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "cates" and "chases". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "chases" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,801 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cates" and "chases" 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 #52,801 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.