crestedvscrewedWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,595
“crested” frequency rank
#49,848
“crewed” frequency rank
83443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crested crewed
Definition Having a crest, or ornamental tuft (on an animal) or plume (on a helmet). Having a crew; manned; piloted.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crested and crewed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
crested
6 ch
crewed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crested (/ˈkɹɛstɪd/) and crewed (/kɹuːd/) 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 83443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crested is recorded at frequency rank #33,595, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɹɛstɪd/. crewed is at rank #49,848, tagged as anadj, pronounced /kɹuːd/.

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 83443, this pair ranks #13,819 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crested vs crewed

Shared letters: cder. Private to "crested": st. Private to "crewed": w.

"crested" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "crewed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crestedccrested · cersted · cresetd · cressted · crestde · crestedd · crestted · cretsed
  • crewedccrewed · cerwed · creewd · crewde · crewedd · crewwed · crrewed · crweed

Frequency comparison

crested#33,595
crewed#49,848

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crested" and "crewed" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɹɛstɪd/ versus /kɹuːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crested" or "crewed"?
"crested" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,595 in our English list, against #49,848 for "crewed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crested vs crewed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crested” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list