Which to use
“caballos” and “cabellos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,461
- “caballos” frequency rank
- #13,627
- “cabellos” frequency rank
- 17088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caballos | cabellos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de caballo. | Forma del plural de cabello. |
Where the eye mixes caballos and cabellos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. caballos and cabellos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses caballos with cabellos
A purely visual mix-up. caballos ([kaˈβ̞aʝos]) 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 a single letter - a in “caballos” becomes e in “cabellos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caballos is recorded at frequency rank #3,461, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈβ̞aʝos]. 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 17088, this pair ranks #273,599 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of caballos vs cabellos
Shared letters: abclos. Private to "caballos": -. Private to "cabellos": e.
"caballos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "cabellos" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caballos" for "cabellos" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caballos" or "cabellos" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "caballos" 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 #273,599 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caballos" 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 #273,599 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.