caravscazanTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#444
“cara” frequency rank
#36,453
“cazan” frequency rank
36897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cara cazan
Definition En el hombre y algunos animales, parte frontal de la cabeza, donde se encuentran los ojos, nariz y boca. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de cazar.

Where the eye mixes cara and cazan

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cara runs 4 letters (CVCV) against cazan's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
cara
5 ch
cazan

Visual trap between cara and cazan

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cara is [ˈkaɾa] while cazan is [ˈkasãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cara is recorded at frequency rank #444, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾa]. cazan is at rank #36,453, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkasãn].

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 36897, this pair ranks #178,201 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cara vs cazan

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cara": r. Private to "cazan": nz.

"cara" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cazan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caraacra · caar · carra · ccara · craa
  • cazanaczan · caazn · cazann · cazna · cazzan · ccazan · czaan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cara" for "cazan" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cara" is a noun and "cazan" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cara" vs "cazan" - which ranks higher?
"cara" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #444 in our Spanish list, against #36,453 for "cazan". 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 "cara" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cazan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,201 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cara" and "cazan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cazan vs copan". 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 #178,201 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