cawvscoreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“caw” and “core” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,655
“caw” frequency rank
#1,892
“core” frequency rank
50547
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caw core
Definition The harsh cry of a crow. In general usage, an essential part of a thing surrounded by other essential things.

Same sound, different letters: caw vs core

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.

3 ch
caw
4 ch
core

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. caw and core are pronounced identically (/kɔː/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caw is recorded at frequency rank #48,655, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɔː/. core is at rank #1,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɔː/.

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 50547, this pair ranks #173,306 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caw vs core

Shared letters: c. Private to "caw": aw. Private to "core": eor.

"caw" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "core" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coreccore · coer · corre · croe · ocre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caw" and "core" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (/kɔː/), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "caw" or "core"?
"core" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,892 in our English list, against #48,655 for "caw". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list