causevscausenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,559
“cause” frequency rank
#36,971
“causen” frequency rank
52530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cause causen
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de causar. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de subjuntivo de causar.

Where the eye mixes cause and causen

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cause
6 ch
causen

Visual trap between cause and causen

A purely visual mix-up. cause ([ˈkawse]) and causen ([ˈkawsẽn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “cause” sits inside “causen”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cause is recorded at frequency rank #15,559, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkawse]. causen is at rank #36,971, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkawsẽn].

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 52530, this pair ranks #92,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cause vs causen

Shared letters: acesu. Private to "cause": -. Private to "causen": n.

"cause" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "causen" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causeacuse · casue · caues · causse · ccause · cuase
  • causenacusen · casuen · caucen · cauesn · causenn · causne · caussen · ccausen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cause" and "causen" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkawse] versus [ˈkawsẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cause" or "causen" show up more?
"cause" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,559 in our Spanish list, against #36,971 for "causen". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cause" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #92,245 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cause" and "causen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "calmen vs causen". 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 #92,245 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