Which to use
“cates” is a noun and “craves” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,123
- “cates” frequency rank
- #32,750
- “craves” frequency rank
- 80873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cates | craves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Provisions; food; viands; especially, luxurious food; delicacies; dainties. | third-person singular simple present indicative of crave |
Letter map: cates vs craves
Shared letters muted; letters that set cates and craves apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. cates runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against craves's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: cates vs craves
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cates is anoun and cravesaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cates is recorded at frequency rank #48,123, classified as anoun. craves is at rank #32,750, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹeɪvz/.
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 80873, this pair ranks #18,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cates vs craves
Shared letters: aces. Private to "cates": t. Private to "craves": rv.
"cates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "craves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cates" for "craves" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "cates" or "craves" show up more?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "cates" and "craves".
- Full dictionary entry for "cates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,873 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cates" and "craves" 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 #18,873 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.