careyvscartaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,690
“carey” frequency rank
#873
“carta” frequency rank
32563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carey carta
Definition (Eretmochelys imbricata) Gran tortuga marina que habita arrecifes coralinos en las aguas tropicales de todo el globo. Alcanza los 80 kg de peso y más de un metro de largo, con un distintivo caparazón cordiforme y un patrón de color amarillo orlando los escudos del espaldar. Tiene la cabeza elongada, con morro en forma de pico y las patas palmeadas con dos garras por pie. Capturada por sus huevos y su caparazón, está en grave riesgo de extinción. Escrito de comunicación que una persona o institución envía a otra.

Where the eye mixes carey and carta

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

5 ch
carey
5 ch
carta

Look-alike desk: carey vs carta

A purely visual mix-up. carey ([kaˈɾej]) and carta ([ˈkaɾt̪a]) 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 32563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carey is recorded at frequency rank #31,690, classified as anoun, pronounced [kaˈɾej]. carta is at rank #873, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾt̪a].

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 32563, this pair ranks #201,340 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of carey vs carta

Shared letters: acr. Private to "carey": ey. Private to "carta": t.

"carey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "carta" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • careyacrey · caery · careyy · carrey · carye · ccarey · craey
  • cartaacrta · carat · carrta · cartta · catra · ccarta · crata

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "carey" and "carta" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kaˈɾej] versus [ˈkaɾt̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "carey" or "carta"?
"carta" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #873 in our Spanish list, against #31,690 for "carey". 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 "carey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "carta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,340 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "carey" and "carta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "carey vs catre". 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 #201,340 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