Which to use
“caco” and “cayo” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,790
- “caco” frequency rank
- #8,772
- “cayo” frequency rank
- 54562
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caco | cayo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. | Tipo de isla pequeña que se encuentra en el Golfo de México y mar de las Antillas, con suelo arenoso, de muy poca elevación sobre el nivel del mar, por lo que suele inundarse con las mareas altas y tormentas; a menudo tiene manglares. |
Where the eye mixes caco and cayo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: caco vs cayo
A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and cayo ([ˈkaʝo]) 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 a single letter - c in “caco” becomes y in “cayo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54562, 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]. cayo is at rank #8,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaʝo].
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 54562, this pair ranks #82,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of caco vs cayo
Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "cayo": y.
"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cayo" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "caco" for "cayo" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caco" or "cayo" show up more?
What to do next
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 "cayo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #82,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caco" and "cayo" 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 #82,770 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.