cacovschamoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#27,147
“chamo” frequency rank
72937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco chamo
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Ser humano de corta edad, en especial el que no ha llegado a la pubertad

Where the eye mixes caco and chamo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. caco runs 4 letters (CVCV) against chamo's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
caco
5 ch
chamo

Visual trap between caco and chamo

A purely visual mix-up. caco ([ˈkako]) and chamo ([ˈt͡ʃamo]) 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 72937, 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]. chamo is at rank #27,147, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈt͡ʃamo].

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 72937, this pair ranks #24,325 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs chamo

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "chamo": hm.

"caco" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "chamo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caco ← acco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • chamo ← cahmo · cchamo · chammo · chaom · chhamo · chmao · hcamo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caco" and "chamo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkako] versus [ˈt͡ʃamo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caco" vs "chamo" - which ranks higher?
"chamo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,147 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.

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 "chamo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #24,325 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "chamo" 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 #24,325 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