Which to use
“clues” and “cruces” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,300
- “clues” frequency rank
- #46,405
- “cruces” frequency rank
- 55705
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clues | cruces |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of clue | plural of crux |
Where the eye mixes clues and cruces
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. clues runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against cruces's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses clues with cruces
A purely visual mix-up. clues (/kluːz/) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clues is recorded at frequency rank #9,300, classified as anoun, pronounced /kluːz/. 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 55705, this pair ranks #131,651 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of clues vs cruces
Shared letters: cesu. Private to "clues": l. Private to "cruces": r.
"clues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "cruces" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clues" and "cruces" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "clues" or "cruces" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cruces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,651 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clues" and "cruces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cruces vs crusts". 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 #131,651 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.