cafeteravscatéterWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,589
“cafetera” frequency rank
#42,326
“catéter” frequency rank
63915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cafetera catéter
Definition Utensilio usado para hacer o servir café. Puede ser de fuego directo o eléctrico. Instrumento en forma de manguera estrecha que se introduce en el cuerpo, y que dependiendo de su diseño, sirve para inyectar fármacos, drenar líquidos, administrar suero, explorar un órgano, etc.

Where the eye mixes cafetera and catéter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

8 ch
cafetera
7 ch
catéter

Visual trap between cafetera and catéter

A purely visual mix-up. cafetera ([kafeˈt̪eɾa]) and catéter ([kaˈt̪et̪eɾ]) 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 63915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cafetera is recorded at frequency rank #21,589, classified as anoun, pronounced [kafeˈt̪eɾa]. catéter is at rank #42,326, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈt̪et̪eɾ].

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 63915, this pair ranks #47,173 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cafetera vs catéter

Shared letters: acert. Private to "cafetera": f. Private to "catéter": é.

"cafetera" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "catéter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cafeteraacfetera · caeftera · cafeetra · cafetear · cafeterra · cafetrea · cafettera · caffetera

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cafetera" for "catéter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kafeˈt̪eɾa] versus [kaˈt̪et̪eɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cafetera" or "catéter" show up more?
"cafetera" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,589 in our Spanish list, against #42,326 for "catéter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cafetera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "catéter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,173 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cafetera" and "catéter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carecer vs catéter". 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 #47,173 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