Which to use
“café” and “carey” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,337
- “café” frequency rank
- #31,690
- “carey” frequency rank
- 33027
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | café | carey |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | (Eretmochelys imbricata) Gran tortuga marina que habita arrecifes coralinos en las aguas tropicales de todo el globo. Alcanza los 80 kg de peso y más de un metro de largo, con un distintivo caparazón cordiforme y un patrón de color amarillo orlando los escudos del espaldar. Tiene la cabeza elongada, con morro en forma de pico y las patas palmeadas con dos garras por pie. Capturada por sus huevos y su caparazón, está en grave riesgo de extinción. |
Where the eye mixes café and carey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. café runs 4 letters (CVCV) against carey's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between café and carey
A purely visual mix-up. café ([kaˈfe]) and carey ([kaˈɾej]) 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 33027, 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]. carey is at rank #31,690, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈɾej].
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 33027, this pair ranks #198,962 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of café vs carey
Shared letters: ac. Private to "café": fé. Private to "carey": ery.
"café" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "carey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- carey ← acrey · caery · careyy · carrey · carye · ccarey · craey
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "café" and "carey" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "café" or "carey" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "café" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "carey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #198,962 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "café" and "carey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carey 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 #198,962 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.