Which to use
“crony” and “crow” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,192
- “crony” frequency rank
- #9,590
- “crow” frequency rank
- 49782
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crony | crow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A close friend. | A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call. |
Where the eye mixes crony and crow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between crony and crow
A purely visual mix-up. crony (/ˈkɹoʊni/) and crow (/kɹəʊ/) 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 49782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crony is recorded at frequency rank #40,192, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹoʊni/. crow is at rank #9,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹəʊ/.
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 49782, this pair ranks #180,336 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crony vs crow
Shared letters: cor. Private to "crony": ny. Private to "crow": w.
"crony" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "crony" and "crow" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "crony" vs "crow" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "crony" and "crow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "crony" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,336 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crony" and "crow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crony". 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 #180,336 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.