cafésvscaseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cafés is a noun, case is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cafés” is a noun and “case” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,534
“cafés” frequency rank
#10,632
“case” frequency rank
23166
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cafés case
Definition Forma del plural de café. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de casar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cafés and case apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cafés
4 ch
case

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cafés is [kaˈfes] while case is [ˈkase]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23166, 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]. case is at rank #10,632, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkase].

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 23166, this pair ranks #247,077 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cafés vs case

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cafés": . Private to "case": e.

"cafés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caseacse · cace · casse · ccase · csae

Frequency comparison

cafés#12,534
case#10,632

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cafés" and "case" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cafés" is a noun and "case" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cafés" or "case"?
"case" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,632 in our Spanish list, against #12,534 for "cafés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cafés vs case

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cafés”; for a verb, it's “case”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cafés” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list