castvscentTell them apart

Quick tell: cast is a verb, cent is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cast” is a verb and “cent” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,771
“cast” frequency rank
#35,409
“cent” frequency rank
60180
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cast cent
Definition Arrojar, lanzar, tirar. Cien.

Where the eye mixes cast and cent

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

4 ch
cast
4 ch
cent

Visual trap between cast and cent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cast is /kɑːst/ while cent is [t͡sent]. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cast is recorded at frequency rank #24,771, classified as averb, pronounced /kɑːst/. cent is at rank #35,409, tagged as anum, pronounced [t͡sent].

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 60180, this pair ranks #59,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cast vs cent

Shared letters: ct. Private to "cast": as. Private to "cent": en.

"cast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cent" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • castacst · casst · castt · ccast · csat
  • centccent · cennt · centt · cetn · cnet · ecnt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cast" for "cent" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cast" is a verb and "cent" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cast" or "cent"?
"cast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,771 in our Spanish list, against #35,409 for "cent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "cast" and "cent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #59,868 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cast" and "cent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cent vs count". 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 #59,868 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