Which to use
“crow” and “crown” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,590
- “crow” frequency rank
- #2,665
- “crown” frequency rank
- 12255
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crow | crown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles; it has a harsh, croaking call. | A royal, imperial or princely headdress; a diadem. |
Where the eye mixes crow and crown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses crow with crown
A purely visual mix-up. crow (/kɹəʊ/) and crown (/kɹaʊn/) 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 extra letter(s) - “crow” sits inside “crown”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crow is recorded at frequency rank #9,590, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹəʊ/. crown is at rank #2,665, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹaʊn/.
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 12255, this pair ranks #482,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crow vs crown
Shared letters: corw. Private to "crow": -. Private to "crown": n.
"crow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crow" for "crown" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crow" vs "crown" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #482,597 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crow" and "crown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Croat vs crow". 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 #482,597 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.