creamsvscreasesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,763
“creams” frequency rank
#41,066
“creases” frequency rank
62829
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature creams creases
Definition plural of cream plural of crease

Where the eye mixes creams and creases

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. creams runs 6 letters (CCVVCC) against creases's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
creams
7 ch
creases

Look-alike desk: creams vs creases

A purely visual mix-up. creams (/kɹiːmz/) and creases (/ˈkɹiːsɪz/) 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 62829, 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/. creases is at rank #41,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹiːsɪz/.

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 62829, this pair ranks #86,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of creams vs creases

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

"creams" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "creases" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • creamsccreams · cerams · craems · creamms · creamss · creasm · cremas · crreams
  • creasesccreases · cerases · craeses · creaess · creasess · creasses · cresaes · crreases

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "creams" for "creases" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɹiːmz/ versus /ˈkɹiːsɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "creams" or "creases"?
"creams" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,763 in our English list, against #41,066 for "creases". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "creams" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "creases" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #86,313 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "creams" and "creases" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caresses vs creases". 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 #86,313 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