Which to use
“crease” and “crest” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,303
- “crease” frequency rank
- #12,027
- “crest” frequency rank
- 31330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crease | crest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A line or mark made by folding or doubling any pliable substance; hence, a similar mark, however produced. | The summit of a hill or mountain ridge. |
Where the eye mixes crease and crest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crease vs crest
A purely visual mix-up. crease (/kɹiːs/) and crest (/kɹɛst/) 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 31330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crease is recorded at frequency rank #19,303, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹiːs/. crest is at rank #12,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɛst/.
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 31330, this pair ranks #347,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crease vs crest
Shared letters: cers. Private to "crease": a. Private to "crest": t.
"crease" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "crest" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crease" and "crest" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "crease" vs "crest" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,041 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crease" and "crest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crest 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 #347,041 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.