cagevscataWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#25,167
“cage” frequency rank
#19,658
“cata” frequency rank
44825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cage cata
Definition Jaula. Acción o efecto de catar.

Where the eye mixes cage and cata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cage and cata follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
cage
4 ch
cata

Visual trap between cage and cata

A purely visual mix-up. cage (/keɪdʒ/) and cata ([ˈkat̪a]) 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 44825, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cage is recorded at frequency rank #25,167, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪdʒ/. cata is at rank #19,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat̪a].

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 44825, this pair ranks #134,908 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cage vs cata

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cage": eg. Private to "cata": t.

"cage" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cage ← acge · caeg · cagge · ccage · cgae
  • cata ← caat · catta · ccata · ctaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cage" and "cata" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/keɪdʒ/ versus [ˈkat̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cage" or "cata"?
"cata" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,658 in our Spanish list, against #25,167 for "cage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "cage" and "cata" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,908 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cage" and "cata" 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 #134,908 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