capazvscavarWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#908
“capaz” frequency rank
#28,673
“cavar” frequency rank
29581
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capaz cavar
Definition Dicho de un recinto o recipiente, de gran volumen. Retirar la tierra para hacer un hoyo o una excavación.

Where the eye mixes capaz and cavar

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

5 ch
capaz
5 ch
cavar

Visual trap between capaz and cavar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capaz is [kaˈpas] while cavar is [kaˈβ̞aɾ]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29581, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capaz is recorded at frequency rank #908, classified as anadj, pronounced [kaˈpas]. cavar is at rank #28,673, tagged as averb, pronounced [kaˈβ̞aɾ].

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 29581, this pair ranks #216,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of capaz vs cavar

Shared letters: ac. Private to "capaz": pz. Private to "cavar": rv.

"capaz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cavar" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capazacpaz · caapz · capazz · cappaz · capza · ccapaz · cpaaz
  • cavaracvar · caavr · cavarr · cavvar · ccavar · cvaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "capaz" and "cavar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capaz" is an adjective and "cavar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "capaz" or "cavar" show up more?
"capaz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #908 in our Spanish list, against #28,673 for "cavar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "cavar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,290 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capaz" and "cavar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cavar vs Cova". 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 #216,290 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