cacovscrasoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: caco is a noun, craso is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caco” is a noun and “craso” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,790
“caco” frequency rank
#38,614
“craso” frequency rank
84404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caco craso
Definition Persona que tiene por costumbre u oficio el apropiarse de cosas que no le pertenecen. Inexcusable (que no puede ser perdonado).

Where the eye mixes caco and craso

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

4 ch
caco
5 ch
craso

Visual trap between caco and craso

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caco is [ˈkako] while craso is [ˈkɾaso]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84404, 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]. craso is at rank #38,614, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾaso].

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 84404, this pair ranks #7,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caco vs craso

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caco": -. Private to "craso": rs.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caco ← acco · cacco · caoc · ccaco · ccao
  • craso ← ccraso · crasso · crraso · crsao · rcaso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caco" and "craso" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caco" is a noun and "craso" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caco" or "craso"?
"craso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,614 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 "craso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,088 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caco" and "craso" 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 #7,088 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