Which to use
“cafés” and “cards” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,534
- “cafés” frequency rank
- #34,930
- “cards” frequency rank
- 47464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cafés | cards |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forma del plural de café. | Forma del plural de card. |
Where the eye mixes cafés and cards
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cafés (CVCVC) and cards (CVCCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cafés with cards
A purely visual mix-up. cafés ([kaˈfes]) and cards (/kɑːdz/) 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 47464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cafés is recorded at frequency rank #12,534, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈfes]. cards is at rank #34,930, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɑːdz/.
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 47464, this pair ranks #119,914 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cafés vs cards
Shared letters: acs. Private to "cafés": fé. Private to "cards": dr.
"cafés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "cards" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cards ← acrds · cadrs · cardds · cardss · carrds · carsd · ccards · crads
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cafés" for "cards" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cafés" vs "cards" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cafés" and "cards" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cafés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cards" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,914 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cafés" and "cards" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cards vs cart". 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 #119,914 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.