Which to use
“crag” and “cyan” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,715
- “crag” frequency rank
- #41,072
- “cyan” frequency rank
- 85787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crag | cyan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A rocky outcrop; a rugged steep cliff or rock. | An additive secondary colour midway between green and blue, evoked by wavelengths between ~490 and ~520 nm. |
Where the eye mixes crag and cyan
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. crag (CCVC) and cyan (CVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: crag vs cyan
A purely visual mix-up. crag (/kɹæɡ/) and cyan (/ˈsaɪˌæn/) 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 85787, 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/. cyan is at rank #41,072, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈsaɪˌæn/.
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 85787, this pair ranks #9,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crag vs cyan
Shared letters: ac. Private to "crag": gr. Private to "cyan": ny.
"crag" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "cyan" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crag" for "cyan" ever safe?
Which is more common, "crag" or "cyan"?
Useful next steps
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 "cyan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,865 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crag" and "cyan" 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 #9,865 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.