caucevscausoWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#15,038
“cauce” frequency rank
#31,256
“causo” frequency rank
46294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cauce causo
Definition Lecho de los ríos y arroyos. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de indicativo de causar.

Where the eye mixes cauce and causo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cauce
5 ch
causo

Visual trap between cauce and causo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cauce is [ˈkawse] while causo is [ˈkawso]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cauce is recorded at frequency rank #15,038, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkawse]. causo is at rank #31,256, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkawso].

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 46294, this pair ranks #126,562 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cauce vs causo

Shared letters: acu. Private to "cauce": e. Private to "causo": os.

"cauce" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "causo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cauceacuce · cacue · caucce · cauec · ccauce · cuace
  • causocasuo · cauos · causso · ccauso · cuaso

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cauce" for "causo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cauce" is a noun and "causo" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cauce" or "causo" show up more?
"cauce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,038 in our Spanish list, against #31,256 for "causo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cauce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,562 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cauce" and "causo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causo vs curo". 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 #126,562 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