crocvscroneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#30,745
“croc” frequency rank
#47,002
“crone” frequency rank
77747
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature croc crone
Definition A crocodile. An old woman.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set croc and crone apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
croc
5 ch
crone

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. croc (/kɹɒk/) and crone (/kɹoʊn/) 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 77747, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

croc is recorded at frequency rank #30,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹɒk/. crone is at rank #47,002, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹoʊn/.

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 77747, this pair ranks #26,389 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of croc vs crone

Shared letters: cor. Private to "croc": -. Private to "crone": en.

"croc" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "crone" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crocccroc · corc · crco · crocc · crroc · rcoc
  • croneccrone · corne · crnoe · croen · cronne · crrone · rcone

Frequency comparison

croc#30,745
crone#47,002

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "croc" and "crone" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɹɒk/ versus /kɹoʊn/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "croc" or "crone"?
"croc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,745 in our English list, against #47,002 for "crone". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering croc vs crone

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 “croc” 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