codevscroneWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#863
“code” frequency rank
#47,002
“crone” frequency rank
47865
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature code crone
Definition A short textual designation, often with little relation to the item it represents. An old woman.

Where the eye mixes code and crone

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
code
5 ch
crone

Look-alike desk: code vs crone

A purely visual mix-up. code (/kəʊd/) and crone (/kɹoʊn/) 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 47865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

code is recorded at frequency rank #863, classified as anoun, pronounced /kəʊd/. crone is at rank #47,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹoʊn/.

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 47865, this pair ranks #198,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of code vs crone

Shared letters: ceo. Private to "code": d. Private to "crone": nr.

"code" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "crone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • codeccode · cdoe · codde · ocde
  • croneccrone · corne · crnoe · croen · cronne · crrone · rcone

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "code" for "crone" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kəʊd/ versus /kɹoʊn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "code" or "crone"?
"code" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #863 in our English list, against #47,002 for "crone". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "code" and "crone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "code" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,451 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "code" and "crone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crone". 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 #198,451 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