Which to use
“crept” is a verb and “crypt” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,794
- “crept” frequency rank
- #25,342
- “crypt” frequency rank
- 49136
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crept | crypt |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of creep | A cave or cavern. |
Where the eye mixes crept and crypt
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crept vs crypt
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crept is /ˈkɹɛpt/ while crypt is /kɹɪpt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “crept” becomes y in “crypt”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crept is recorded at frequency rank #23,794, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈkɹɛpt/. crypt is at rank #25,342, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪpt/.
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 49136, this pair ranks #186,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crept vs crypt
Shared letters: cprt. Private to "crept": e. Private to "crypt": y.
"crept" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "crypt" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crept" for "crypt" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "crept" or "crypt" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crept" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crypt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crept" and "crypt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crypt". 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 #186,473 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.