causesvscrucesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“causes” and “cruces” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,333
“causes” frequency rank
#46,405
“cruces” frequency rank
48738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causes cruces
Definition plural of cause plural of crux

Where the eye mixes causes and cruces

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
causes
6 ch
cruces

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. causes (/ˈkɔːzɪz/) and cruces (/ˈkɹu.siz/) 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 48738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causes is recorded at frequency rank #2,333, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɔːzɪz/. cruces is at rank #46,405, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹu.siz/.

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 48738, this pair ranks #190,211 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of causes vs cruces

Shared letters: cesu. Private to "causes": a. Private to "cruces": r.

"causes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "cruces" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causesacuses · casues · cauess · causess · causses · ccauses · cuases
  • crucesccruces · crcues · crruces · crucces · crucess · crucse · cruecs · curces

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "causes" and "cruces" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɔːzɪz/ versus /ˈkɹu.siz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "causes" or "cruces"?
"causes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,333 in our English list, against #46,405 for "cruces". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list