cacovscatsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#47,632
“cats” frequency rank
93422
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco cats
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Forma del plural de cat.

Where the eye mixes caco and cats

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. caco (CVCV) and cats (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
caco
4 ch
cats

Look-alike desk: caco vs cats

A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and cats (/kæts/) 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 93422, 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]. cats is at rank #47,632, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kæts/.

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 93422, this pair ranks #1,154 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs cats

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caco": o. Private to "cats": st.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caco ← acco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • cats ← acts · catss · catts · ccats · ctas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caco" and "cats" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkako] versus /kæts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caco" or "cats"?
"caco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,790 in our Spanish list, against #47,632 for "cats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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 "cats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,154 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "cats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catre vs cats". 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 #1,154 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