cáncervscánceresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,844
“cáncer” frequency rank
#38,621
“cánceres” frequency rank
40465
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cáncer cánceres
Definition Enfermedad en la que las células de varios tejidos del cuerpo inician una proliferación descontrolada y con frecuencia veloz. Forma del plural de cáncer.

Where the eye mixes cáncer and cánceres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cáncer runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against cánceres's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cáncer
8 ch
cánceres

Why the eye confuses cáncer with cánceres

A purely visual mix-up. cáncer ([ˈkãnseɾ]) and cánceres ([ˈkãnseɾes]) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cáncer” sits inside “cánceres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cáncer is recorded at frequency rank #1,844, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãnseɾ]. cánceres is at rank #38,621, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãnseɾes].

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 40465, this pair ranks #158,940 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cáncer vs cánceres

Shared letters: cenrá. Private to "cáncer": -. Private to "cánceres": s.

"cáncer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cánceres" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cáncer" and "cánceres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkãnseɾ] versus [ˈkãnseɾes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cáncer" or "cánceres" show up more?
"cáncer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,844 in our Spanish list, against #38,621 for "cánceres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cáncer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cánceres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #158,940 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cáncer" and "cánceres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cánceres vs cantares". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #158,940 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