Which to use
“cata” and “kata” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,510
- “cata” frequency rank
- #48,625
- “kata” frequency rank
- 79135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cata | kata |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Catastrophe. | Forme, technique dans les arts martiaux japonais. |
Same sound, different letters: cata vs kata
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. cata and kata follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - cata and kata
This is the hard kind. cata and kata are pronounced identically (\ka.ta\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by a single letter - c in “cata” becomes k in “kata”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cata is recorded at frequency rank #30,510, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ta\. kata is at rank #48,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ka.ta\.
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 79135, this pair ranks #24,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cata vs kata
Shared letters: at. Private to "cata": c. Private to "kata": k.
"cata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "kata" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cata" for "kata" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cata" vs "kata" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "cata" / "kata". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "cata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kata" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cata" and "kata" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kata vs kite". 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 #24,009 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.