cabevscreeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cabe is a noun, cree is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cabe” is a noun and “cree” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,011
“cabe” frequency rank
#842
“cree” frequency rank
2853
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabe cree
Definition Acción de atravesar la pierna en el camino de otro para hacerlo caer. Perteneciente o relativo a una etnia amerindia, nativa de la región de los Grandes Lagos en Norteamérica, históricamente cazadores de la fauna subártica y secundariamente recolectores.

Where the eye mixes cabe and cree

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

4 ch
cabe
4 ch
cree

Why the eye confuses cabe with cree

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabe is [ˈkaβ̞e] while cree is [ˈkɾee]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2853, 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]. cree is at rank #842, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾee].

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 2853, this pair ranks #319,525 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cabe vs cree

Shared letters: ce. Private to "cabe": ab. Private to "cree": r.

"cabe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cree" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabeacbe · cabbe · caeb · cbae · ccabe
  • creeccree · cere · cre · crree · rcee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cabe" for "cree" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cabe" is a noun and "cree" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cabe" or "cree" show up more?
"cree" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #842 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

Eye-level mix-up between "cabe" and "cree" 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 "cree" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #319,525 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabe" and "cree" 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 #319,525 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