Which to use
“cabal” is an adjective and “caben” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,594
- “cabal” frequency rank
- #14,778
- “caben” frequency rank
- 37372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cabal | caben |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ajustado a peso o medida. | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de caber. |
Where the eye mixes cabal and caben
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cabal and caben follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between cabal and caben
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabal is [kaˈβ̞al] while caben is [ˈkaβ̞ẽn]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cabal is recorded at frequency rank #22,594, classified as anadj, pronounced [kaˈβ̞al]. caben is at rank #14,778, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞ẽn].
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 37372, this pair ranks #175,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cabal vs caben
Shared letters: abc. Private to "cabal": l. Private to "caben": en.
"cabal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "caben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cabal" for "caben" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cabal" or "caben" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cabal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caben" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cabal" and "caben" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabal vs ceba". 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 #175,657 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.