Which to use
“caco” and “caños” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,790
- “caco” frequency rank
- #21,925
- “caños” frequency rank
- 67715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caco | caños |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. | Forma del plural de caño. |
Where the eye mixes caco and caños
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caco runs 4 letters (CVCV) against caños's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses caco with caños
A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and caños ([ˈkaɲos]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67715, 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]. caños is at rank #21,925, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɲos].
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 67715, this pair ranks #36,410 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caco vs caños
Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "caños": sñ.
"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "caños" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- caco ← acco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caco" and "caños" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "caco" or "caños"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "caco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "caños" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,410 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caco" and "caños" 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 #36,410 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.