cavevsclaseWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,485
“cave” frequency rank
#397
“clase” frequency rank
34882
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cave clase
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cavar. Marca o tipo, a menudo asociado con “modelo”.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
cave
5 ch
clase

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cave is [ˈkaβ̞e] while clase is [ˈklase]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cave is recorded at frequency rank #34,485, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkaβ̞e]. clase is at rank #397, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈklase].

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 34882, this pair ranks #189,032 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cave vs clase

Shared letters: ace. Private to "cave": v. Private to "clase": ls.

"cave" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "clase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caveacve · caev · cavve · ccave · cvae
  • clasecalse · cclase · clace · claes · classe · cllase · clsae · lcase

Frequency comparison

cave#34,485
clase#397

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cave" and "clase" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cave" is a verb and "clase" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cave" or "clase"?
"clase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #397 in our Spanish list, against #34,485 for "cave". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cave vs clase

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “cave”; for a noun, it's “clase”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cave” 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