Which to use
“cruises” and “crushes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,675
- “cruises” frequency rank
- #23,796
- “crushes” frequency rank
- 40471
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cruises | crushes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of cruise | plural of crush |
Where the eye mixes cruises and crushes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cruises (CCVVCVC) and crushes (CCVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cruises with crushes
A purely visual mix-up. cruises (/ˈkɹuːzɪz/) and crushes (/ˈkɹʌʃɪz/) 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 40471, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cruises is recorded at frequency rank #16,675, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹuːzɪz/. crushes is at rank #23,796, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹʌʃɪz/.
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 40471, this pair ranks #267,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cruises vs crushes
Shared letters: cersu. Private to "cruises": i. Private to "crushes": h.
"cruises" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC · "crushes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cruises" and "crushes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cruises" or "crushes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cruises" and "crushes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cruises" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crushes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,285 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cruises" and "crushes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crushes 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 #267,285 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.