Which to use
“cease” is a verb and “crane” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,769
- “cease” frequency rank
- #8,021
- “crane” frequency rank
- 14790
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cease | crane |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To stop. | Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight. |
Where the eye mixes cease and crane
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: cease vs crane
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cease is /sis/ while crane is /kɹeɪn/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cease is recorded at frequency rank #6,769, classified as averb, pronounced /sis/. crane is at rank #8,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪn/.
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 14790, this pair ranks #467,932 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cease vs crane
Shared letters: ace. Private to "cease": s. Private to "crane": nr.
"cease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "crane" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cease" and "crane" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cease" or "crane"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crane" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #467,932 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cease" and "crane" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Crabb vs crane". 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 #467,932 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.