cacovscargoWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#603
“cargo” frequency rank
46393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco cargo
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Puesto de responsabilidad en un sistema organizativo.

Where the eye mixes caco and cargo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
caco
5 ch
cargo

Look-alike desk: caco vs cargo

A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and cargo ([ˈkaɾɣ̞o]) 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 46393, 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]. cargo is at rank #603, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾɣ̞o].

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 46393, this pair ranks #125,989 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs cargo

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "cargo": gr.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cargo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cacoacco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • cargoacrgo · cagro · carggo · carog · carrgo · ccargo · crago

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caco" and "cargo" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkako] versus [ˈkaɾɣ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caco" or "cargo"?
"cargo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #603 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.

Useful next steps

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 "cargo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,989 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "cargo" 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 #125,989 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