Which to use
“crag” and “crane” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,715
- “crag” frequency rank
- #8,021
- “crane” frequency rank
- 52736
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crag | crane |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A rocky outcrop; a rugged steep cliff or rock. | Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight. |
Where the eye mixes crag and crane
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. crag runs 4 letters (CCVC) against crane's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses crag with crane
A purely visual mix-up. crag (/kɹæɡ/) and crane (/kɹeɪn/) 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 52736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crag is recorded at frequency rank #44,715, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹæɡ/. crane is at rank #8,021, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪn/.
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 52736, this pair ranks #154,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crag vs crane
Shared letters: acr. Private to "crag": g. Private to "crane": en.
"crag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crane" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crag" and "crane" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "crag" or "crane"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crane" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #154,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crag" and "crane" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crag 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 #154,636 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.