CabavscacoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Caba is a name, caco is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Caba” is a name and “caco” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,367
“Caba” frequency rank
#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
63157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Caba caco
Definition Apellido. Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen.

Where the eye mixes Caba and caco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Caba
4 ch
caco

Visual trap between Caba and caco

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Caba is [ˈkaβ̞a] while caco is [ˈkako]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Caba is recorded at frequency rank #17,367, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞a]. caco is at rank #45,790, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkako].

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 63157, this pair ranks #49,649 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Caba vs caco

Shared letters: ac. Private to "Caba": b. Private to "caco": o.

"Caba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Cabaacba · caab · cabba · cbaa · ccaba
  • cacoacco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Caba" and "caco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Caba" is a name and "caco" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Caba" vs "caco" - which ranks higher?
"Caba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,367 in our Spanish list, against #45,790 for "caco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Caba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,649 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Caba" and "caco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caco vs cuc". 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 #49,649 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list