CabavscebaWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#17,367
“Caba” frequency rank
#49,502
“ceba” frequency rank
66869
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Caba ceba
Definition Apellido. Alimentación abundante y esmerada que para que engorde se da al ganado, especialmente al que es comido por el ser humano.

Where the eye mixes Caba and ceba

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Caba
4 ch
ceba

Look-alike desk: Caba vs ceba

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Caba is [ˈkaβ̞a] while ceba is [ˈseβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “Caba” becomes e in “ceba”, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66869, 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]. ceba is at rank #49,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈseβ̞a].

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 66869, this pair ranks #38,653 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Caba vs ceba

Shared letters: abc. Private to "Caba": -. Private to "ceba": e.

"Caba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ceba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Cabaacba · caab · cabba · cbaa · ccaba
  • cebacbea · cceba · ceab · cebba · ceva · ecba · seba

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Caba" for "ceba" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Caba" is a name and "ceba" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Caba" or "ceba"?
"Caba" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,367 in our Spanish list, against #49,502 for "ceba". 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 "ceba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,653 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Caba" and "ceba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs Cova". 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 #38,653 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