cabevscaraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,011
“cabe” frequency rank
#444
“cara” frequency rank
2455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabe cara
Definition Acción de atravesar la pierna en el camino de otro para hacerlo caer. En el hombre y algunos animales, parte frontal de la cabeza, donde se encuentran los ojos, nariz y boca.

Where the eye mixes cabe and cara

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

4 ch
cabe
4 ch
cara

Look-alike desk: cabe vs cara

A purely visual mix-up. cabe ([ˈkaβ̞e]) and cara ([ˈkaɾa]) 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 2455, 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]. cara is at rank #444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾa].

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 2455, this pair ranks #320,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabe vs cara

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cabe": be. Private to "cara": r.

"cabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeacbe · cabbe · caeb · cbae · ccabe
  • caraacra · caar · carra · ccara · craa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cabe" and "cara" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaβ̞e] versus [ˈkaɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cabe" or "cara" show up more?
"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Spanish list, against #2,011 for "cabe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #320,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabe" and "cara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabe 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 #320,290 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