Which to use
“cray” and “crew” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,500
- “cray” frequency rank
- #2,033
- “crew” frequency rank
- 30533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cray | crew |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A crayfish or lobster. | A group of people together |
Where the eye mixes cray and crew
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cray and crew
A purely visual mix-up. cray (/kɹæɪ/) and crew (/kɹuː/) 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 30533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cray is recorded at frequency rank #28,500, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹæɪ/. crew is at rank #2,033, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹuː/.
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 30533, this pair ranks #353,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cray vs crew
Shared letters: cr. Private to "cray": ay. Private to "crew": ew.
"cray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "crew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cray" and "crew" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cray" or "crew"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cray" and "crew" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,763 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cray" and "crew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cray 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 #353,763 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.