cragvscrowConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#44,715
“crag” frequency rank
#9,590
“crow” frequency rank
54305
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crag crow
Definition A rocky outcrop; a rugged steep cliff or rock. A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call.

Where the eye mixes crag and crow

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. crag and crow follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
crag
4 ch
crow

Visual trap between crag and crow

A purely visual mix-up. crag (/kɹæɡ/) and crow (/kɹəʊ/) 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 54305, 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/. crow is at rank #9,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹəʊ/.

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 54305, this pair ranks #142,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crag vs crow

Shared letters: cr. Private to "crag": ag. Private to "crow": ow.

"crag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "crow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cragccrag · cragg · crga · crrag · rcag
  • crowccrow · corw · croww · crrow · crwo · rcow

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "crag" for "crow" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɹæɡ/ versus /kɹəʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "crag" or "crow" show up more?
"crow" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,590 in our English list, against #44,715 for "crag". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "crag" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,113 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crag" and "crow" 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 #142,113 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