cariesvscarizWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,799
“caries” frequency rank
#43,444
“cariz” frequency rank
74243
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caries cariz
Definition Destrucción progresiva del diente por la acción de bacterias presentes en la placa dental. Aspecto de la atmósfera.

Where the eye mixes caries and cariz

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

6 ch
caries
5 ch
cariz

Why the eye confuses caries with cariz

A purely visual mix-up. caries ([ˈkaɾjes]) and cariz ([kaˈɾis]) 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 74243, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caries is recorded at frequency rank #30,799, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaɾjes]. cariz is at rank #43,444, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kaˈɾis].

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 74243, this pair ranks #21,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of caries vs cariz

Shared letters: acir. Private to "caries": es. Private to "cariz": z.

"caries" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "cariz" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caries ← acries · caires · careis · cariess · carise · carries · ccaries · craies
  • cariz ← acriz · cairz · carizz · carriz · carzi · ccariz · craiz

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caries" and "cariz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaɾjes] versus [kaˈɾis]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caries" or "cariz" show up more?
"caries" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,799 in our Spanish list, against #43,444 for "cariz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caries" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cariz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #21,673 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caries" and "cariz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cariz 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 #21,673 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