Which to use
“crew” and “crown” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,033
- “crew” frequency rank
- #2,665
- “crown” frequency rank
- 4698
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crew | crown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A group of people together | A royal, imperial or princely headdress; a diadem. |
Where the eye mixes crew and crown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses crew with crown
A purely visual mix-up. crew (/kɹuː/) and crown (/kɹaʊn/) 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 4698, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crew is recorded at frequency rank #2,033, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹuː/. crown is at rank #2,665, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaʊn/.
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 4698, this pair ranks #517,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crew vs crown
Shared letters: crw. Private to "crew": e. Private to "crown": no.
"crew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crew" and "crown" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "crew" or "crown"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #517,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crew" and "crown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crown". 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 #517,999 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.