Which to use
“cábala” and “cabales” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,676
- “cábala” frequency rank
- #45,787
- “cabales” frequency rank
- 90463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cábala | cabales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tradición oral de la interpretación del Tanaj (biblia hebrea), originada en las comunidades judías de la España y Francia medievales, y luego adoptada y transformada por distintas escuelas teosóficas. | Estado mental normal y cuerdo. |
Where the eye mixes cábala and cabales
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cábala runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against cabales's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between cábala and cabales
A purely visual mix-up. cábala ([ˈkaβ̞ala]) and cabales ([kaˈβ̞ales]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90463, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cábala is recorded at frequency rank #44,676, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞ala]. cabales is at rank #45,787, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈβ̞ales].
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 90463, this pair ranks #2,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cábala vs cabales
Shared letters: abcl. Private to "cábala": á. Private to "cabales": es.
"cábala" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "cabales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cabales ← acbales · caables · cabaels · cabaless · caballes · cabalse · cabbales · cablaes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cábala" for "cabales" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cábala" vs "cabales" - which ranks higher?
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 "cábala" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cabales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cábala" and "cabales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cábala vs casará". 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 #2,488 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.