castovscrasoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#44,616
“casto” frequency rank
#38,614
“craso” frequency rank
83230
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature casto craso
Definition Persona que se abstiene de todo goce sexual o lo vive de acuerdo a ciertas directrices dictadas por su religión o su moral. Inexcusable (que no puede ser perdonado).

Where the eye mixes casto and craso

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. casto (CVCCV) and craso (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
casto
5 ch
craso

Why the eye confuses casto with craso

A purely visual mix-up. casto ([ˈkast̪o]) and craso ([ˈkɾaso]) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83230, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

casto is recorded at frequency rank #44,616, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkast̪o]. craso is at rank #38,614, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾaso].

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 83230, this pair ranks #8,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of casto vs craso

Shared letters: acos. Private to "casto": t. Private to "craso": r.

"casto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "craso" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • casto ← acsto · casot · cassto · castto · catso · ccasto · csato
  • craso ← ccraso · crasso · crraso · crsao · rcaso

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "casto" and "craso" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkast̪o] versus [ˈkɾaso]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "casto" or "craso" show up more?
"craso" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,614 in our Spanish list, against #44,616 for "casto". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "casto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "craso" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,342 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "casto" and "craso" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casto vs Chasco". 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 #8,342 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