cruvscurdWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,193
“cru” frequency rank
#31,942
“curd” frequency rank
72135
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cru curd
Definition A vineyard or group of vineyards in France, especially one having a high reputation. The part of milk that coagulates when it sours or is treated with enzymes; used to make cottage cheese, dahi, etc.

Where the eye mixes cru and curd

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
cru
4 ch
curd

Visual trap between cru and curd

A purely visual mix-up. cru (/kɹuː/) and curd (/kɜː(ɹ)d/) 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 72135, 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/. curd is at rank #31,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɜː(ɹ)d/.

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 72135, this pair ranks #44,087 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cru vs curd

Shared letters: cru. Private to "cru": -. Private to "curd": d.

"cru" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "curd" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • curdccurd · cudr · curdd · currd · ucrd

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cru" and "curd" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/kɹuː/ versus /kɜː(ɹ)d/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cru" vs "curd" - which ranks higher?
"curd" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,942 in our English list, against #40,193 for "cru". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "curd" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,087 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cru" and "curd" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CGT vs cru". 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 #44,087 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list