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PlainSpell

cause

UK /kɔːz/noun, verb, conjunction

cause is spelled C-A-U-S-E. The wrong spelling people search most is cuase: about 60 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 33 of all searches for the word. Cause is a noun meaning “The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result”. The plural of cause is causes.

How many letters and syllables are in cause?

Letters5: C-A-U-S-E
Syllables1
In writing224 times per million words; the 447th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searched2; the most searched, cuase, about 60 Bing searches a month (all of them)
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How do you spell cause?

Cause is spelled C-A-U-S-E. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 25 of the searches for cause in either form.

causethe right spelling1,910 searches a month
cuasea and u swapped60 searches a month
casueu and s swapped20 searches a month

Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.

How common is cause?

Cause appears 224 times per million words in written English, the 447th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce cause?

  • UK /kɔːz/
  • UK [kʰo̞ːz̥]
  • British /koːz/

Cause has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-cause.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-cause.wav, En-au-'cos.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with cause?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as cause from its last stressed vowel (/ɔz/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: sauce.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of cause

  • causes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • causing participle, present
  • caused participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • cos
  • 'cos
  • cus
  • 'cus
  • coz
  • 'coz
  • cuz
  • 'cuz
  • 'cauz
  • cauz

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does cause mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.

    They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.

  2. 2

    Sufficient reason.

    There is no cause for alarm.

  3. 3

    A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends.

  4. 4

    obsoleteSake; interest; advantage.

  5. 5

    obsoleteAny subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.

  6. 6

    A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.

verb

  1. 1

    To set off an event or action; to bring about; to produce.

    The lightning caused thunder.

  2. 2

    To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.

    His dogged determination caused the fundraising to be successful.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.

conjunction

  1. 1

    Alternative form of 'cause; because

    Why not? Cause I don't wanna.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Cause in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchcause, raison (source or reason of an event or action), causer (to set off an event or action)
GermanUrsache, Anlass, Grund (source or reason of an event or action), verursachen, auslösen (to set off an event or action), Sache (goal, aim, principle)
Portuguesecausa (source or reason of an event or action), causar (to set off an event or action), fazer (to produce as a result)
Spanishcausa (source or reason of an event or action), causar (to set off an event or action), causa judicial (lawsuit)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

What to look up after cause