Which to use
“café” and “cage” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,337
- “café” frequency rank
- #25,167
- “cage” frequency rank
- 26504
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | café | cage |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Semilla del fruto del cafeto, rica en el estimulante cafeína, que se emplea tostada y molida para preparar una bebida con estas propiedades que se consume en casi todo el mundo. Es el segundo producto en volumen en el comercio internacional, solo superado por el petróleo. | Jaula. |
Where the eye mixes café and cage
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. café and cage follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: café vs cage
A purely visual mix-up. café ([kaˈfe]) and cage (/keɪdʒ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
café is recorded at frequency rank #1,337, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈfe]. cage is at rank #25,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced /keɪdʒ/.
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 26504, this pair ranks #231,295 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of café vs cage
Shared letters: ac. Private to "café": fé. Private to "cage": eg.
"café" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "cage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cage ← acge · caeg · cagge · ccage · cgae
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "café" and "cage" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "café" or "cage" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "café" and "cage" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "café" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cage" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,295 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "café" and "cage" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cage 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 #231,295 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.