McCabevsMcRaeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,511
“McCabe” frequency rank
#41,759
“McRae” frequency rank
66270
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature McCabe McRae
Definition A surname from Irish. A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

Letter map: McCabe vs McRae

Shared letters muted; letters that set McCabe and McRae apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
McCabe
5 ch
McRae

Corpus notes: McCabe and McRae

McCabe and McRae are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

McCabe is recorded at frequency rank #24,511, classified as aname, pronounced /məˈkeɪb/. McRae is at rank #41,759, tagged as aname.

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 66270, this pair ranks #68,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of McCabe vs McRae

Shared letters: acem. Private to "McCabe": b. Private to "McRae": r.

"McCabe" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "McRae" · 5 letters · shape CCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • McCabecmcabe · mcabe · mcacbe · mccabbe · mccaeb · mccbae · mmccabe
  • McRaecmrae · mcare · mccrae · mcrea · mcrrae · mmcrae · mrcae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "McCabe" and "McRae" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "McCabe" vs "McRae" - which ranks higher?
"McCabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,511 in our English list, against #41,759 for "McRae". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "McCabe" vs "McRae" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "McCabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "McRae" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,784 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "McCabe" and "McRae" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Marne vs McRae". 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 #68,784 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list