caobavscasonaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,450
“caoba” frequency rank
#26,349
“casona” frequency rank
62799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caoba casona
Definition (género Swietenia) Árbol de la familia Meliaceae, natural de América, de hasta 20 metros de altura, tronco corpulento y recto del que brotan a cierta altura un gran número de ramas, hojas compuestas, flores pequeñas y blancas, y fruto capsular. Su madera es muy estimada. Antigua casa colonial típica de España y abundante en los países que fueron sus colonias, cuentan con un estilo colonial barroco español.

Where the eye mixes caoba and casona

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. caoba runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against casona's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
caoba
6 ch
casona

Why the eye confuses caoba with casona

A purely visual mix-up. caoba ([kaˈoβ̞a]) and casona ([kaˈsona]) 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 62799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caoba is recorded at frequency rank #36,450, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈoβ̞a]. casona is at rank #26,349, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈsona].

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 62799, this pair ranks #50,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caoba vs casona

Shared letters: aco. Private to "caoba": b. Private to "casona": ns.

"caoba" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "casona" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caoba ← acoba · caboa · caoab · caobba · caova · ccaoba · coaba
  • casona ← acsona · caosna · casnoa · casoan · casonna · cassona · ccasona · csaona

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caoba" and "casona" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈoβ̞a] versus [kaˈsona]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "caoba" vs "casona" - which ranks higher?
"casona" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,349 in our Spanish list, against #36,450 for "caoba". 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 "caoba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "casona" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,800 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caoba" and "casona" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caoba vs ceba". 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 #50,800 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