CabavscadeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#17,367
“Caba” frequency rank
#45,173
“cade” frequency rank
62540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Caba cade
Definition Apellido. (Phytotoma rara) Ave de la familia Phytotomidae. Mide 19 cm. De plumaje en distintos tonos de pardo con secciones negruzcas, frente y corona pardo rojizas, pico corto y grueso de color negro e iris rojos, con dimorfismo sexual. Se alimenta de plantas y de brotes tiernos de árboles. Ave solitaria, que en algunas épocas del año forma pequeñas bandadas. Frecuenta campos, huertos y jardines.

Where the eye mixes Caba and cade

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

4 ch
Caba
4 ch
cade

Why the eye confuses Caba with cade

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Caba is [ˈkaβ̞a] while cade is [ˈkað̞e]. 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 62540, 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]. cade is at rank #45,173, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkað̞e].

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 62540, this pair ranks #51,685 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Caba vs cade

Shared letters: ac. Private to "Caba": b. Private to "cade": de.

"Caba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Cabaacba · caab · cabba · cbaa · ccaba
  • cadeacde · cadde · caed · ccade · cdae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Caba" for "cade" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Caba" is a name and "cade" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Caba" or "cade" show up more?
"Caba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,367 in our Spanish list, against #45,173 for "cade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Caba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,685 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Caba" and "cade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cade vs catre". 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 #51,685 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