camevscrèmeWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#37,428
“came” frequency rank
#41,102
“crème” frequency rank
78530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature came crème
Definition Präteritum (simple past) des Verbs come Rahm, Sahne

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
came
5 ch
crème

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: came is averb and crèmeanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

came is recorded at frequency rank #37,428, classified as averb, pronounced […]. crème is at rank #41,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kʁɛm].

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 78530, this pair ranks #236,292 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of came vs crème

Shared letters: cem. Private to "came": a. Private to "crème": .

"came" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "crème" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cameacme · caem · camme · ccame · cmae

Frequency comparison

came#37,428
crème#41,102

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "came" and "crème" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "came" is a verb and "crème" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "came" or "crème"?
"came" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,428 in our German list, against #41,102 for "crème". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering came vs crème

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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