Which to use
“crane” and “crate” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,021
- “crane” frequency rank
- #15,594
- “crate” frequency rank
- 23615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crane | crate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any bird of the family Gruidae, large birds with long legs and a long neck which is extended during flight. | A large open box or basket, used especially to transport fragile goods. |
Where the eye mixes crane and crate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crane vs crate
A purely visual mix-up. crane (/kɹeɪn/) and crate (/kɹeɪt/) 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 a single letter - n in “crane” becomes t in “crate”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crane is recorded at frequency rank #8,021, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪn/. crate is at rank #15,594, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪt/.
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 23615, this pair ranks #408,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crane vs crate
Shared letters: acer. Private to "crane": n. Private to "crate": t.
"crane" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crate" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crane" for "crate" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crane" vs "crate" - which ranks higher?
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 "crane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crane" and "crate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crate 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 #408,019 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.