casevscauleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,149
“case” frequency rank
#35,921
“caule” frequency rank
42070
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature case caule
Definition caso a parte aérea do eixo principal das plantas superiores, ligada à raiz, e da qual se desenvolvem os ramos e as folhas

Where the eye mixes case and caule

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

4 ch
case
5 ch
caule

Why the eye confuses case with caule

A purely visual mix-up. case (/keɪs/) and caule (/ˈkaw.lɨ/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

case is recorded at frequency rank #6,149, classified as anoun, pronounced /keɪs/. caule is at rank #35,921, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkaw.lɨ/.

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 42070, this pair ranks #23,756 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of case vs caule

Shared letters: ace. Private to "case": s. Private to "caule": lu.

"case" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "caule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caseacse · caes · casse · ccase · csae
  • cauleacule · calue · cauel · caulle · ccaule · cuale

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "case" and "caule" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/keɪs/ versus /ˈkaw.lɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "case" vs "caule" - which ranks higher?
"case" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,149 in our Portuguese list, against #35,921 for "caule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "case" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "caule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,756 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "case" and "caule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cárie vs caule". 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 #23,756 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list