Which to use
“caballo” and “cabellos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,330
- “caballo” frequency rank
- #13,627
- “cabellos” frequency rank
- 15957
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caballo | cabellos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Equus caballus) Mamífero doméstico ungulado de la familia de los équidos, utilizado por el hombre para montar o como animal de tiro. | Forma del plural de cabello. |
Where the eye mixes caballo and cabellos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. caballo runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against cabellos's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: caballo vs cabellos
A purely visual mix-up. caballo ([kaˈβ̞aʝo]) and cabellos ([kaˈβ̞eʝos]) 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 15957, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caballo is recorded at frequency rank #2,330, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈβ̞aʝo]. cabellos is at rank #13,627, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈβ̞eʝos].
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 15957, this pair ranks #278,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of caballo vs cabellos
Shared letters: abclo. Private to "caballo": -. Private to "cabellos": es.
"caballo" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "cabellos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caballo" and "cabellos" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caballo" or "cabellos" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caballo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cabellos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caballo" and "cabellos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabellos vs capullos". 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 #278,080 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.