Which to use
“caben” is a verb and “carbón” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,778
- “caben” frequency rank
- #4,582
- “carbón” frequency rank
- 19360
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caben | carbón |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de caber. | Carbono que las plantas verdes han tomado del dióxido de carbono en el aire, metabolizado por medio de la fotosíntesis, y que se ha ido depositando en el suelo, al morir las plantas y quedar enterradas durante millones de años. Las masas vegetales enterradas más antiguas, que datan del periodo carbonífero, se han carbonificado creando la hulla; las más recientes, que datan del terciario, han formado el lignito. |
Where the eye mixes caben and carbón
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caben runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against carbón's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses caben with carbón
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caben is [ˈkaβ̞ẽn] while carbón is [kaɾˈβ̞õn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19360, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caben is recorded at frequency rank #14,778, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞ẽn]. carbón is at rank #4,582, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaɾˈβ̞õn].
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 19360, this pair ranks #264,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of caben vs carbón
Shared letters: abcn. Private to "caben": e. Private to "carbón": ró.
"caben" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "carbón" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- caben ← acben · cabben · cabenn · cabne · caebn · caven · cbaen · ccaben
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caben" for "carbón" ever safe?
Which is more common, "caben" or "carbón"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "caben" and "carbón" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "caben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carbón" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caben" and "carbón" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caben vs calmen". 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 #264,092 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.