cansevsclaseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: canse is a verb, clase is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“canse” is a verb and “clase” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,131
“canse” frequency rank
#397
“clase” frequency rank
27528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature canse clase
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cansar o de cansarse. Marca o tipo, a menudo asociado con “modelo”.

Where the eye mixes canse and clase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
canse
5 ch
clase

Visual trap between canse and clase

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: canse is [ˈkãnse] while clase is [ˈklase]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27528, 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]. clase is at rank #397, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklase].

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 27528, this pair ranks #226,401 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of canse vs clase

Shared letters: aces. Private to "canse": n. Private to "clase": l.

"canse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "clase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • canseacnse · cance · cansse · casne · ccanse · cnase
  • clasecalse · cclase · clace · claes · classe · cllase · clsae · lcase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "canse" and "clase" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "canse" is a verb and "clase" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "canse" vs "clase" - which ranks higher?
"clase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #397 in our Spanish list, against #27,131 for "canse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "canse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "clase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #226,401 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "canse" and "clase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canse 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 #226,401 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