cabevscebaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,011
“cabe” frequency rank
#49,502
“ceba” frequency rank
51513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabe ceba
Definition Acción de atravesar la pierna en el camino de otro para hacerlo caer. Alimentación abundante y esmerada que para que engorde se da al ganado, especialmente al que es comido por el ser humano.

Where the eye mixes cabe and ceba

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

4 ch
cabe
4 ch
ceba

Look-alike desk: cabe vs ceba

A purely visual mix-up. cabe ([ˈkaβ̞e]) and ceba ([ˈseβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51513, 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]. ceba is at rank #49,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈseβ̞a].

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 51513, this pair ranks #97,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabe vs ceba

Shared letters: abce. Private to "cabe": -. Private to "ceba": -.

"cabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ceba" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeacbe · cabbe · caeb · cbae · ccabe
  • cebacbea · cceba · ceab · cebba · ceva · ecba · seba

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cabe" and "ceba" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaβ̞e] versus [ˈseβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cabe" vs "ceba" - which ranks higher?
"cabe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,011 in our Spanish list, against #49,502 for "ceba". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "ceba" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,502 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabe" and "ceba" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ceba vs Cova". 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 #97,502 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