capazvscarayWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: capaz is a adjective, caray is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“capaz” is an adjective and “caray” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#908
“capaz” frequency rank
#22,293
“caray” frequency rank
23201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capaz caray
Definition Dicho de un recinto o recipiente, de gran volumen. Carey.

Where the eye mixes capaz and caray

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

5 ch
capaz
5 ch
caray

Why the eye confuses capaz with caray

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capaz is [kaˈpas] while caray is [kaˈɾaj]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capaz is recorded at frequency rank #908, classified as anadj, pronounced [kaˈpas]. caray is at rank #22,293, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈɾaj].

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 23201, this pair ranks #246,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of capaz vs caray

Shared letters: ac. Private to "capaz": pz. Private to "caray": ry.

"capaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "caray" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capazacpaz · caapz · capazz · cappaz · capza · ccapaz · cpaaz
  • carayacray · caary · carayy · carray · carya · ccaray · craay

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "capaz" for "caray" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capaz" is an adjective and "caray" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "capaz" or "caray" show up more?
"capaz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #908 in our Spanish list, against #22,293 for "caray". 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 "capaz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #246,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capaz" and "caray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caray vs cart". 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 #246,893 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