classvscrossWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: class is a noun, cross is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“class” is a noun and “cross” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,026
“class” frequency rank
#9,698
“cross” frequency rank
20724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature class cross
Definition Klasse diagonal in das gegnerische Feld

Letter map: class vs cross

Shared letters muted; letters that set class and cross apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
class
5 ch
cross

Part-of-speech tell for class / cross

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: class is anoun and crossanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

class is recorded at frequency rank #11,026, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. cross is at rank #9,698, tagged as anadv, pronounced [kʁɔs].

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 20724, this pair ranks #1,894,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of class vs cross

Shared letters: cs. Private to "class": al. Private to "cross": or.

"class" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "cross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • classcalss · cclass · clas · claß · cllass · clsas · lcass
  • crossccross · corss · cros · croß · crross · crsos · rcoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "class" for "cross" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "class" is a noun and "cross" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "class" vs "cross" - which ranks higher?
"cross" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,698 in our German list, against #11,026 for "class". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "class" vs "cross" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "class" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,894,471 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "class" and "cross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "class vs puzzles". 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 #1,894,471 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list