cadevscagueWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#45,173
“cade” frequency rank
#16,030
“cague” frequency rank
61203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cade cague
Definition (Phytotoma rara) Ave de la familia Phytotomidae. Mide 19 cm. De plumaje en distintos tonos de pardo con secciones negruzcas, frente y corona pardo rojizas, pico corto y grueso de color negro e iris rojos, con dimorfismo sexual. Se alimenta de plantas y de brotes tiernos de árboles. Ave solitaria, que en algunas épocas del año forma pequeñas bandadas. Frecuenta campos, huertos y jardines. Acción o efecto de cagarse₂.

Where the eye mixes cade and cague

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

4 ch
cade
5 ch
cague

Why the eye confuses cade with cague

A purely visual mix-up. cade ([ˈkað̞e]) and cague ([ˈkaɣ̞e]) 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 61203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cade is recorded at frequency rank #45,173, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkað̞e]. cague is at rank #16,030, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɣ̞e].

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 61203, this pair ranks #56,285 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cade vs cague

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cade": d. Private to "cague": gu.

"cade" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cague" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cade ← acde · cadde · caed · ccade · cdae
  • cague ← acgue · cageu · caggue · cauge · ccague · cgaue

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cade" and "cague" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkað̞e] versus [ˈkaɣ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cade" vs "cague" - which ranks higher?
"cague" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,030 in our Spanish list, against #45,173 for "cade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cague" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,285 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cade" and "cague" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cade vs catre". 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 #56,285 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