Which to use
“caved” and “craved” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,586
- “caved” frequency rank
- #32,749
- “craved” frequency rank
- 62335
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caved | craved |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of cave | simple past and past participle of crave |
Where the eye mixes caved and craved
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses caved with craved
A purely visual mix-up. caved (/keɪvd/) and craved (/kɹeɪvd/) 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 62335, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caved is recorded at frequency rank #29,586, classified as averb, pronounced /keɪvd/. craved is at rank #32,749, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹeɪvd/.
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 62335, this pair ranks #89,087 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caved vs craved
Shared letters: acdev. Private to "caved": -. Private to "craved": r.
"caved" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "craved" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caved" and "craved" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "caved" or "craved"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caved" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craved" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,087 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caved" and "craved" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "craved vs crewed". 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 #89,087 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.