casovscesConfusable pair

Quick tell: caso is a noun, ces is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“caso” is a noun and “ces” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#157
“caso” frequency rank
#23,714
“ces” frequency rank
23871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes caso and ces

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

4 ch
caso
3 ch
ces

Visual trap between caso and ces

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: caso is [ˈkaso] while ces is [se]. 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 (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caso is recorded at frequency rank #157, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkaso]. ces is at rank #23,714, tagged as apron, pronounced [se].

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 23871, this pair ranks #243,781 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caso vs ces

Shared letters: cs. Private to "caso": ao. Private to "ces": e.

"caso" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "ces" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casoacso · casso · ccaso · csao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "caso" and "ces" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "caso" is a noun and "ces" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "caso" or "ces" show up more?
"caso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #157 in our Spanish list, against #23,714 for "ces". 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 "ces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,781 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "caso" and "ces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ces vs cuc". 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 #243,781 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