creamsvscreaseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,763
“creams” frequency rank
#19,303
“crease” frequency rank
41066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature creams crease
Definition plural of cream A line or mark made by folding or doubling any pliable substance; hence, a similar mark, however produced.

Where the eye mixes creams and crease

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. creams (CCVVCC) and crease (CCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
creams
6 ch
crease

Look-alike desk: creams vs crease

A purely visual mix-up. creams (/kɹiːmz/) and crease (/kɹiːs/) 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 41066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

creams is recorded at frequency rank #21,763, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹiːmz/. crease is at rank #19,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹiːs/.

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 41066, this pair ranks #261,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of creams vs crease

Shared letters: acers. Private to "creams": m. Private to "crease": -.

"creams" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "crease" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • creams ← ccreams · cerams · craems · creamms · creamss · creasm · cremas · crreams
  • crease ← ccrease · cerase · craese · creaes · creasse · cresae · crrease · rcease

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "creams" and "crease" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɹiːmz/ versus /kɹiːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "creams" or "crease" show up more?
"crease" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,303 in our English list, against #21,763 for "creams". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "creams" and "crease" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "creams" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crease" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,803 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "creams" and "crease" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creams vs creeds". 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 #261,803 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