carovscasiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: caro is a adjective, casi is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caro” is an adjective and “casi” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,306
“caro” frequency rank
#221
“casi” frequency rank
3527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caro casi
Definition Que tiene un alto valor o costo; que excede mucho del valor o estimación regular. Que por poca diferencia no es, que tiene mucha semejanza.

Where the eye mixes caro and casi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
caro
4 ch
casi

Look-alike desk: caro vs casi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caro is [ˈkaɾo] while casi is [ˈkasi]. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caro is recorded at frequency rank #3,306, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkaɾo]. casi is at rank #221, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈkasi].

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 3527, this pair ranks #318,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caro vs casi

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caro": or. Private to "casi": is.

"caro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "casi" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caroacro · caor · ccaro · crao
  • casiacsi · caci · cais · cassi · ccasi · csai

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caro" and "casi" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caro" is an adjective and "casi" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "caro" or "casi"?
"casi" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #221 in our Spanish list, against #3,306 for "caro". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "caro" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "casi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,116 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caro" and "casi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caro 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 #318,116 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