cadavscarWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cada is a adjective, car is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#89
“cada” frequency rank
#10,462
“car” frequency rank
10551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cada car
Definition Designa una cosa o persona entre varias o entre una serie de ellas. Extremo inferior del mástil al que se asegura la vela en las embarcaciones de vela latina.

Where the eye mixes cada and car

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cada
3 ch
car

Why the eye confuses cada with car

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cada is [ˈkað̞a] while car is [ˈkaɾ]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cada is recorded at frequency rank #89, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkað̞a]. car is at rank #10,462, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾ].

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 10551, this pair ranks #298,195 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cada vs car

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cada": d. Private to "car": r.

"cada" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "car" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cadaacda · caad · cadda · ccada · cdaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cada" for "car" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cada" is an adjective and "car" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cada" or "car"?
"cada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #89 in our Spanish list, against #10,462 for "car". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "cada" and "car" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "car" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,195 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cada" and "car" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "car 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 #298,195 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