cacovscajaConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#1,306
“caja” frequency rank
47096
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco caja
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Recipiente rectangular cerrable, generalmente con tapa, en el cual se pueden guardar otros objetos.

Where the eye mixes caco and caja

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

4 ch
caco
4 ch
caja

Visual trap between caco and caja

A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and caja ([ˈkaxa]) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caco is recorded at frequency rank #45,790, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkako]. caja is at rank #1,306, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaxa].

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 47096, this pair ranks #121,966 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs caja

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caco": o. Private to "caja": j.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "caja" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacoacco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • cajaacja · caaj · cajja · ccaja · cjaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caco" for "caja" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkako] versus [ˈkaxa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caco" or "caja" show up more?
"caja" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,306 in our Spanish list, against #45,790 for "caco". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "caco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caja" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,966 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "caja" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caco vs cuc". 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 #121,966 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