cañovscaraWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#12,544
“caño” frequency rank
#444
“cara” frequency rank
12988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caño cara
Definition Tubo de metal, vidrio o barro, a modo de cañuto. En el hombre y algunos animales, parte frontal de la cabeza, donde se encuentran los ojos, nariz y boca.

Where the eye mixes caño and cara

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
caño
4 ch
cara

Why the eye confuses caño with cara

A purely visual mix-up. caño ([ˈkaɲo]) and cara ([ˈkaɾa]) 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 12988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caño is recorded at frequency rank #12,544, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɲo]. cara is at rank #444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾa].

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 12988, this pair ranks #289,555 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caño vs cara

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caño": . Private to "cara": r.

"caño" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caraacra · caar · carra · ccara · craa

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caño" and "cara" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaɲo] versus [ˈkaɾa]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caño" vs "cara" - which ranks higher?
"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Spanish list, against #12,544 for "caño". 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 "caño" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cara" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,555 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caño" and "cara" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caño vs Charo". 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 #289,555 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