cachovscarbóTell them apart

Which to use

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

#15,294
“cacho” frequency rank
#44,027
“carbó” frequency rank
59321
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cacho carbó
Definition Pedazo o porción de alguna cosa, en especial de límites más bien difusos o amorfa. Carbón.

Where the eye mixes cacho and carbó

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

5 ch
cacho
5 ch
carbó

Visual trap between cacho and carbó

A purely visual mix-up. cacho ([ˈkat͡ʃo]) and carbó ([kərˈbo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cacho is recorded at frequency rank #15,294, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat͡ʃo]. carbó is at rank #44,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kərˈbo].

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 59321, this pair ranks #63,058 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cacho vs carbó

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cacho": ho. Private to "carbó": bró.

"cacho" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "carbó" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cachoaccho · caccho · cachho · cacoh · cahco · ccacho · ccaho

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cacho" and "carbó" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkat͡ʃo] versus [kərˈbo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cacho" vs "carbó" - which ranks higher?
"cacho" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,294 in our Spanish list, against #44,027 for "carbó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cacho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carbó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,058 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cacho" and "carbó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carbó vs Charo". 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 #63,058 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