casevscineWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#10,632
“case” frequency rank
#961
“cine” frequency rank
11593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature case cine
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de casar. Arte de hacer películas para su exposición en salas de espectáculo.

Where the eye mixes case and cine

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

4 ch
case
4 ch
cine

Look-alike desk: case vs cine

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: case is [ˈkase] while cine is [ˈsine]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

case is recorded at frequency rank #10,632, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkase]. cine is at rank #961, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈsine].

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 11593, this pair ranks #294,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of case vs cine

Shared letters: ce. Private to "case": as. Private to "cine": in.

"case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caseacse · cace · casse · ccase · csae
  • cineccine · cinne · cnie · icne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "case" for "cine" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "case" is a verb and "cine" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "case" or "cine"?
"cine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #961 in our Spanish list, against #10,632 for "case". 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 "case" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,560 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "case" and "cine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "case 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 #294,560 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