cabosvscaesConfusable pair

Quick tell: cabos is a noun, caes is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cabos” is a noun and “caes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,535
“cabos” frequency rank
#12,986
“caes” frequency rank
27521
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cabos caes
Definition En las personas, ojos, cejas y pelo. Segunda persona del singular (tú) del presente de indicativo de caer o de caerse.

Where the eye mixes cabos and caes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cabos
4 ch
caes

Look-alike desk: cabos vs caes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cabos is [ˈkaβ̞os] while caes is [ˈkaes]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cabos is recorded at frequency rank #14,535, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞os]. caes is at rank #12,986, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaes].

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 27521, this pair ranks #226,433 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cabos vs caes

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cabos": bo. Private to "caes": e.

"cabos" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "caes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cabosacbos · cabbos · caboss · cabso · caobs · cavos · cbaos · ccabos
  • caesaces · caess · ccaes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cabos" for "caes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cabos" is a noun and "caes" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cabos" or "caes"?
"caes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,986 in our Spanish list, against #14,535 for "cabos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cabos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,433 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cabos" and "caes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cabos vs chamos". 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 #226,433 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