cabevsceTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,011
“cabe” frequency rank
#8,352
“ce” frequency rank
10363
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabe ce
Definition Acción de atravesar la pierna en el camino de otro para hacerlo caer. Nombre de la letra c.

Where the eye mixes cabe and ce

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

4 ch
cabe
2 ch
ce

Why the eye confuses cabe with ce

A purely visual mix-up. cabe ([ˈkaβ̞e]) and ce ([ˈse]) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10363, 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]. ce is at rank #8,352, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈse].

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 10363, this pair ranks #298,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabe vs ce

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cabe": ab. Private to "ce": -.

"cabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ce" · 2 letters · shape CV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeacbe · cabbe · caeb · cbae · ccabe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabe" and "ce" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaβ̞e] versus [ˈse]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cabe" or "ce"?
"cabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,011 in our Spanish list, against #8,352 for "ce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cabe" and "ce" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,905 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabe" and "ce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ce 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 #298,905 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