catevscutWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,559
“cate” frequency rank
#24,090
“cut” frequency rank
62649
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cate cut
Definition Suspenso de un test, examen o asignatura. Corte, incisión.

Where the eye mixes cate and cut

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

4 ch
cate
3 ch
cut

Why the eye confuses cate with cut

A purely visual mix-up. cate ([ˈkat̪e]) and cut (/kʌt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cate is recorded at frequency rank #38,559, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkat̪e]. cut is at rank #24,090, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kʌt/.

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 62649, this pair ranks #51,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cate vs cut

Shared letters: ct. Private to "cate": ae. Private to "cut": u.

"cate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cateacte · caet · catte · ccate · ctae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cate" and "cut" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkat̪e] versus /kʌt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cate" or "cut"?
"cut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,090 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,305 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cate" and "cut" 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 #51,305 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