Which to use
“crews” and “cribs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,405
- “crews” frequency rank
- #41,067
- “cribs” frequency rank
- 49472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crews | cribs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of crew | plural of crib |
Where the eye mixes crews and cribs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crews vs cribs
A purely visual mix-up. crews (/kɹuːz/) and cribs (/kɹɪbz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crews is recorded at frequency rank #8,405, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹuːz/. cribs is at rank #41,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪbz/.
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 49472, this pair ranks #183,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crews vs cribs
Shared letters: crs. Private to "crews": ew. Private to "cribs": bi.
"crews" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cribs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crews" and "cribs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "crews" or "cribs"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crews" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cribs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #183,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crews" and "cribs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cribs vs Crist". 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 #183,258 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.