cantesvscariesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#38,547
“cantes” frequency rank
#30,799
“caries” frequency rank
69346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cantes caries
Definition Forma del plural de cante. Destrucción progresiva del diente por la acción de bacterias presentes en la placa dental.

Where the eye mixes cantes and caries

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cantes (CVCCVC) and caries (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
cantes
6 ch
caries

Look-alike desk: cantes vs caries

A purely visual mix-up. cantes ([ˈkãn̪t̪es]) and caries ([ˈkaɾjes]) 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 69346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cantes is recorded at frequency rank #38,547, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkãn̪t̪es]. caries is at rank #30,799, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾjes].

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 69346, this pair ranks #32,217 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cantes vs caries

Shared letters: aces. Private to "cantes": nt. Private to "caries": ir.

"cantes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cantes ← acntes · canets · canntes · cantess · cantse · canttes · catnes · ccantes
  • caries ← acries · caires · careis · cariess · carise · carries · ccaries · craies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cantes" and "caries" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkãn̪t̪es] versus [ˈkaɾjes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cantes" vs "caries" - which ranks higher?
"caries" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,799 in our Spanish list, against #38,547 for "cantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cantes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #32,217 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cantes" and "caries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cantes vs cats". 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 #32,217 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