cacavscaveTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#10,622
“caca” frequency rank
#34,485
“cave” frequency rank
45107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caca cave
Definition Residuo sólido indigerible del bolo alimenticio, que se excreta a través del ano. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cavar.

Where the eye mixes caca and cave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. caca and cave follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
caca
4 ch
cave

Why the eye confuses caca with cave

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caca is [ˈkaka] while cave is [ˈkaβ̞e]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caca is recorded at frequency rank #10,622, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaka]. cave is at rank #34,485, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞e].

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 45107, this pair ranks #133,367 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caca vs cave

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caca": -. Private to "cave": ev.

"caca" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caca ← acca · caac · cacca · ccaa · ccaca
  • cave ← acve · caev · cavve · ccave · cvae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caca" for "cave" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caca" is a noun and "cave" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caca" or "cave"?
"caca" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,622 in our Spanish list, against #34,485 for "cave". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caca" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #133,367 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caca" and "cave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catre vs cave". 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 #133,367 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