CasesvscateConfusable pair

Quick tell: Cases is a name, cate is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Cases” is a name and “cate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,273
“Cases” frequency rank
#38,559
“cate” frequency rank
66832
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Cases cate
Definition Apellido. Suspenso de un test, examen o asignatura.

Where the eye mixes Cases and cate

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

5 ch
Cases
4 ch
cate

Visual trap between Cases and cate

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Cases is [ˈkases] while cate is [ˈkat̪e]. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Cases is recorded at frequency rank #28,273, classified as aname, pronounced [ˈkases]. cate is at rank #38,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat̪e].

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 66832, this pair ranks #38,752 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Cases vs cate

Shared letters: ace. Private to "Cases": s. Private to "cate": t.

"Cases" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "cate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Casesacses · caces · casess · casses · ccases · csaes
  • cateacte · caet · catte · ccate · ctae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Cases" for "cate" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Cases" is a name and "cate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "Cases" or "cate" show up more?
"Cases" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,273 in our Spanish list, against #38,559 for "cate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Cases" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #38,752 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Cases" and "cate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cate 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 #38,752 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