cabevscacoConfusable pair

Which to use

“cabe” and “caco” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,011
“cabe” frequency rank
#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
47801
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabe caco
Definition Acción de atravesar la pierna en el camino de otro para hacerlo caer. Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen.

Where the eye mixes cabe and caco

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cabe
4 ch
caco

Look-alike desk: cabe vs caco

A purely visual mix-up. cabe ([ˈkaβ̞e]) and caco ([ˈkako]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47801, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabe is recorded at frequency rank #2,011, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞e]. caco is at rank #45,790, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkako].

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 47801, this pair ranks #118,019 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabe vs caco

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cabe": be. Private to "caco": o.

"cabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeacbe · cabbe · caeb · cbae · ccabe
  • cacoacco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabe" and "caco" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaβ̞e] versus [ˈkako]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cabe" or "caco"?
"cabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,011 in our Spanish list, against #45,790 for "caco". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caco" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,019 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabe" and "caco" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caco vs cuc". 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 #118,019 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