Which to use
“caucus” and “circus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,295
- “caucus” frequency rank
- #7,319
- “circus” frequency rank
- 20614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caucus | circus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A usually preliminary meeting of party members to nominate candidates for public office or delegates to be sent to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding policy. | A traveling company of performers that may include acrobats, clowns, trained animals, and other novelty acts, that gives shows usually in a circular tent. |
Where the eye mixes caucus and circus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses caucus with circus
A purely visual mix-up. caucus (/ˈkɔː.kəs/) and circus (/ˈsɜːkəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caucus is recorded at frequency rank #13,295, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔː.kəs/. circus is at rank #7,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsɜːkəs/.
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 20614, this pair ranks #429,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of caucus vs circus
Shared letters: csu. Private to "caucus": a. Private to "circus": ir.
"caucus" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "circus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caucus" and "circus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "caucus" vs "circus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "caucus" and "circus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caucus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "circus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caucus" and "circus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "callus vs caucus". 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 #429,887 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.