katvsKatzWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,371
“kat” frequency rank
#44,941
“Katz” frequency rank
60312
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature kat Katz
Definition gato (Felis sylvestris catus): gato (animal)

Where the eye mixes kat and Katz

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

3 ch
kat
4 ch
Katz

Why the eye confuses kat with Katz

A purely visual mix-up. kat (/ˈkɐt/) and Katz (/kat͡s/) 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) - “kat” sits inside “Katz”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

kat is recorded at frequency rank #15,371, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɐt/. Katz is at rank #44,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kat͡s/.

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 60312, this pair ranks #7,712 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of kat vs Katz

Shared letters: akt. Private to "kat": -. Private to "Katz": z.

"kat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Katz" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Katzaktz · kattz · katzz · kazt · kkatz · ktaz

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "kat" and "Katz" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɐt/ versus /kat͡s/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "kat" or "Katz"?
"kat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,371 in our Portuguese list, against #44,941 for "Katz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "kat" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Katz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,712 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "kat" and "Katz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kari vs Katz". 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 #7,712 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