cakevscastWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“cake” and “cast” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#26,293
“cake” frequency rank
#17,723
“cast” frequency rank
44016
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cake cast
Definition bolo arremesso

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cake and cast apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cake
4 ch
cast

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cake (/keɪk/) and cast (/kæst/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cake is recorded at frequency rank #26,293, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪk/. cast is at rank #17,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kæst/.

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 44016, this pair ranks #21,534 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cake vs cast

Shared letters: ac. Private to "cake": ek. Private to "cast": st.

"cake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "cast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cakeacke · caek · cakke · ccake · ckae
  • castacst · casst · castt · ccast · csat

Frequency comparison

cake#26,293
cast#17,723

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cake" and "cast" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/keɪk/ versus /kæst/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cake" or "cast"?
"cast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,723 in our Portuguese list, against #26,293 for "cake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cake vs cast

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cake” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list