Which to use
“crim” and “crimes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,573
- “crim” frequency rank
- #3,420
- “crimes” frequency rank
- 44993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crim | crimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A criminal. | plural of crime |
Where the eye mixes crim and crimes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. crim runs 4 letters (CCVC) against crimes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses crim with crimes
A purely visual mix-up. crim (/kɹɪm/) and crimes (/kɹaɪmz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “crim” sits inside “crimes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crim is recorded at frequency rank #41,573, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪm/. crimes is at rank #3,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaɪmz/.
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 44993, this pair ranks #225,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crim vs crimes
Shared letters: cimr. Private to "crim": -. Private to "crimes": es.
"crim" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crimes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crim" for "crimes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crim" vs "crimes" - which ranks higher?
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 "crim" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crim" and "crimes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crim 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 #225,427 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.