cribs vs crisps, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,067
“cribs” frequency rank: #25,720
“crisps” frequency rank: 66787
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cribs	crisps
Definition	plural of crib	plural of crisp

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cribs and crisps apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

cribs

6 ch

crisps

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. cribs (/kɹɪbz/) and crisps (/kɹɪsps/) 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 66787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cribs is recorded at frequency rank #41,067, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪbz/. crisps is at rank #25,720, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪsps/.

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 66787, this pair ranks #66,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cribs vs crisps

Shared letters: cirs. Private to "cribs": b. Private to "crisps": p.

"cribs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "crisps" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

cribs ← ccribs · cirbs · crbis · cribbs · cribss · crisb · crribs · rcibs
crisps ← ccrisps · cirsps · cripss · crispps · crispss · crissps · crrisps · crsips

Frequency comparison

cribs#41,067

crisps#25,720

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cribs" and "crisps" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/kɹɪbz/ versus /kɹɪsps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "cribs" or "crisps"?

"crisps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,720 in our English list, against #41,067 for "cribs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cribs vs crisps

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 “cribs” entry
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