cacovscameWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: caco is a noun, came is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caco” is a noun and “came” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#33,003
“came” frequency rank
78793
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco came
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Se utiliza para indicar que el siguiente suceso, período o cambio de estado ocurrió en el pasado, después de un tiempo de espera, perduración o anticipación.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set caco and came apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
caco
4 ch
came

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caco is [ˈkako] while came is /keɪm/. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78793, 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]. came is at rank #33,003, tagged as aprep, pronounced /keɪm/.

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 78793, this pair ranks #13,945 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs came

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caco": o. Private to "came": em.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "came" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacoacco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • cameacme · caem · camme · ccame · cmae

Frequency comparison

caco#45,790
came#33,003

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caco" and "came" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caco" is a noun and "came" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caco" or "came"?
"came" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,003 in our Spanish list, against #45,790 for "caco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering caco vs came

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “caco”; for a preposition, it's “came”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “caco” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list