choosevscrosseTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,296
“choose” frequency rank
#33,192
“crosse” frequency rank
34488
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature choose crosse
Definition To pick; to make the choice of; to select. A lacrosse stick.

Letter map: choose vs crosse

Shared letters muted; letters that set choose and crosse apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
choose
6 ch
crosse

Role in the sentence - choose and crosse

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: choose is averb and crosseanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34488, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

choose is recorded at frequency rank #1,296, classified as averb, pronounced /t͡ʃuːz/. crosse is at rank #33,192, tagged as anoun.

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 34488, this pair ranks #320,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of choose vs crosse

Shared letters: ceos. Private to "choose": h. Private to "crosse": r.

"choose" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "crosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • choosecchoose · chhoose · chooes · choosse · chosoe · cohose · hcoose
  • crosseccrosse · corsse · crose · crrosse · crsose · rcosse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "choose" and "crosse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "choose" is a verb and "crosse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "choose" or "crosse"?
"choose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,296 in our English list, against #33,192 for "crosse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "choose" and "crosse".

  • Full dictionary entry for "choose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #320,339 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "choose" and "crosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crone vs crosse". 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 #320,339 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list