Which to use
“crab” and “crew” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,185
- “crab” frequency rank
- #2,033
- “crew” frequency rank
- 12218
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crab | crew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any crustacean of the infraorder Brachyura, having five pairs of legs, the foremost of which are in the form of claws, and a carapace. | A group of people together |
Where the eye mixes crab and crew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between crab and crew
A purely visual mix-up. crab (/kɹæb/) and crew (/kɹuː/) 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 12218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crab is recorded at frequency rank #10,185, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹæb/. crew is at rank #2,033, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹuː/.
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 12218, this pair ranks #482,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crab vs crew
Shared letters: cr. Private to "crab": ab. Private to "crew": ew.
"crab" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "crab" and "crew" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "crab" vs "crew" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #482,794 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crab" and "crew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crab vs Croat". 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 #482,794 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.