Which to use
“cru” and “crud” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,193
- “cru” frequency rank
- #45,306
- “crud” frequency rank
- 85499
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cru | crud |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A vineyard or group of vineyards in France, especially one having a high reputation. | Dirt, filth or refuse. |
Where the eye mixes cru and crud
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cru runs 3 letters (CCV) against crud's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cru with crud
A purely visual mix-up. cru (/kɹuː/) and crud (/kɹʌd/) 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) - “cru” sits inside “crud”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cru is recorded at frequency rank #40,193, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹuː/. crud is at rank #45,306, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹʌd/.
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 85499, this pair ranks #10,295 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cru vs crud
Shared letters: cru. Private to "cru": -. Private to "crud": d.
"cru" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "crud" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- crud ← ccrud · crdu · crrud · crudd · rcud
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cru" for "crud" ever safe?
Which is more common, "cru" or "crud"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,295 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cru" and "crud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crud vs CVD". 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 #10,295 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.