Which to use
“cruised” and “crushed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,508
- “cruised” frequency rank
- #6,777
- “crushed” frequency rank
- 43285
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cruised | crushed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of cruise | simple past and past participle of crush |
Where the eye mixes cruised and crushed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cruised (CCVVCVC) and crushed (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cruised with crushed
A purely visual mix-up. cruised (/kɹuːzd/) and crushed (/kɹʌʃt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cruised is recorded at frequency rank #36,508, classified as averb, pronounced /kɹuːzd/. crushed is at rank #6,777, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɹʌʃt/.
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 43285, this pair ranks #241,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cruised vs crushed
Shared letters: cdersu. Private to "cruised": i. Private to "crushed": h.
"cruised" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "crushed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cruised" and "crushed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cruised" or "crushed"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cruised" and "crushed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cruised" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crushed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #241,465 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cruised" and "crushed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cruised vs crusted". 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 #241,465 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.