crossevscrossesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,192
“crosse” frequency rank
#8,775
“crosses” frequency rank
41967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crosse crosses
Definition A lacrosse stick. plural of cross

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crosse and crosses apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
crosse
7 ch
crosses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

crosse and crosses are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “crosse” sits inside “crosses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crosse is recorded at frequency rank #33,192, classified as anoun. crosses is at rank #8,775, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹɔsɪz/.

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 41967, this pair ranks #253,535 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crosse vs crosses

Shared letters: ceors. Private to "crosse": -. Private to "crosses": -.

"crosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "crosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crosseccrosse · corsse · crose · crrosse · crsose · rcosse
  • crossesccrosses · corsses · croses · crosess · crossess · crossse · crrosses · crsoses

Frequency comparison

crosse#33,192
crosses#8,775

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crosse" and "crosses" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “crosse” sits inside “crosses”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "crosse" or "crosses"?
"crosses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,775 in our English list, against #33,192 for "crosse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crosse vs crosses

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 “crosse” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list