catsvscauseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cats is a noun, cause is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cats” is a noun and “cause” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,632
“cats” frequency rank
#15,559
“cause” frequency rank
63191
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cats cause
Definition Forma del plural de cat. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de causar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cats and cause apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cats
5 ch
cause

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cats is /kæts/ while cause is [ˈkawse]. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63191, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cats is recorded at frequency rank #47,632, classified as anoun, pronounced /kæts/. cause is at rank #15,559, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkawse].

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 63191, this pair ranks #49,526 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cats vs cause

Shared letters: acs. Private to "cats": t. Private to "cause": eu.

"cats" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • catsacts · catss · catts · ccats · ctas
  • causeacuse · casue · caues · causse · ccause · cuase

Frequency comparison

cats#47,632
cause#15,559

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cats" and "cause" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cats" is a noun and "cause" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cats" or "cause"?
"cause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,559 in our Spanish list, against #47,632 for "cats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cats vs cause

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cats”; for a verb, it's “cause”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cats” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list