Which to use
“caused” and “caved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,388
- “caused” frequency rank
- #29,586
- “caved” frequency rank
- 30974
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caused | caved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cause | past participle of cave |
Where the eye mixes caused and caved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses caused with caved
A purely visual mix-up. caused (/kɔːzd/) and caved (/keɪvd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caused is recorded at frequency rank #1,388, classified as averb, pronounced /kɔːzd/. caved is at rank #29,586, tagged as averb, pronounced /keɪvd/.
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 30974, this pair ranks #350,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caused vs caved
Shared letters: acde. Private to "caused": su. Private to "caved": v.
"caused" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "caved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caused" and "caved" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "caused" vs "caved" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "caused" and "caved" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caused" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #350,112 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caused" and "caved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caved vs cleaved". 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 #350,112 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.