Which to use
“crafty” and “crusty” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,047
- “crafty” frequency rank
- #28,503
- “crusty” frequency rank
- 50550
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crafty | crusty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Skillful at deceiving others. | Having a crust, especially a thick one. |
Where the eye mixes crafty and crusty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. crafty and crusty follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: crafty vs crusty
A purely visual mix-up. crafty (/ˈkɹæfti/) and crusty (/ˈkɹʌsti/) 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 50550, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crafty is recorded at frequency rank #22,047, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɹæfti/. crusty is at rank #28,503, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɹʌsti/.
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 50550, this pair ranks #173,279 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crafty vs crusty
Shared letters: crty. Private to "crafty": af. Private to "crusty": su.
"crafty" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "crusty" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "crafty" and "crusty" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "crafty" or "crusty"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crafty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crusty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,279 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crafty" and "crusty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crusted vs crusty". 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 #173,279 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.