crankedvscravedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,594
“cranked” frequency rank
#32,749
“craved” frequency rank
66343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cranked craved
Definition simple past and past participle of crank simple past and past participle of crave

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cranked and craved apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
cranked
6 ch
craved

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cranked (/kɹæŋkt/) and craved (/kɹeɪvd/) 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 66343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cranked is recorded at frequency rank #33,594, classified as averb, pronounced /kɹæŋkt/. craved is at rank #32,749, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹeɪvd/.

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 66343, this pair ranks #68,461 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cranked vs craved

Shared letters: acder. Private to "cranked": kn. Private to "craved": v.

"cranked" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "craved" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crankedcarnked · ccranked · crakned · cranekd · crankde · crankedd · crankked · crannked
  • cravedccraved · craevd · cravde · cravedd · cravved · crraved · crvaed · rcaved

Frequency comparison

cranked#33,594
craved#32,749

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cranked" and "craved" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɹæŋkt/ versus /kɹeɪvd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cranked" or "craved"?
"craved" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,749 in our English list, against #33,594 for "cranked". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cranked vs craved

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cranked” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list