cansevscaveTell them apart

Which to use

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

#27,131
“canse” frequency rank
#34,485
“cave” frequency rank
61616
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canse cave
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cansar o de cansarse. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cavar.

Where the eye mixes canse and cave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
canse
4 ch
cave

Look-alike desk: canse vs cave

A purely visual mix-up. canse ([ˈkãnse]) and cave ([ˈkaβ̞e]) 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 61616, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

canse is recorded at frequency rank #27,131, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkãnse]. cave is at rank #34,485, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞e].

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 61616, this pair ranks #54,826 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of canse vs cave

Shared letters: ace. Private to "canse": ns. Private to "cave": v.

"canse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • canseacnse · cance · cansse · casne · ccanse · cnase
  • caveacve · caev · cavve · ccave · cvae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "canse" for "cave" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkãnse] versus [ˈkaβ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "canse" or "cave" show up more?
"canse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,131 in our Spanish list, against #34,485 for "cave". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "canse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,826 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canse" and "cave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "catre vs cave". 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 #54,826 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