casovscataWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#157
“caso” frequency rank
#19,658
“cata” frequency rank
19815
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caso cata
Definition Cada una de varias instancias consideradas como pertenecientes a un mismo tipo de situaciones o cosas (como los casos de una enfermedad, etc.). Acción o efecto de catar.

Where the eye mixes caso and cata

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. caso and cata follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
caso
4 ch
cata

Look-alike desk: caso vs cata

A purely visual mix-up. caso ([ˈkaso]) and cata ([ˈkat̪a]) 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 19815, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caso is recorded at frequency rank #157, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaso]. cata is at rank #19,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat̪a].

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 19815, this pair ranks #262,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of caso vs cata

Shared letters: ac. Private to "caso": os. Private to "cata": t.

"caso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casoacso · casso · ccaso · csao
  • catacaat · catta · ccata · ctaa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "caso" and "cata" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkaso] versus [ˈkat̪a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caso" or "cata" show up more?
"caso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #157 in our Spanish list, against #19,658 for "cata". 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 "caso" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #262,094 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caso" and "cata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cata vs ceba". 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 #262,094 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