crunchedvscrunchesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: crunched is a verb, crunches is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“crunched” is a verb and “crunches” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,685
“crunched” frequency rank
#39,265
“crunches” frequency rank
87950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crunched crunches
Definition simple past and past participle of crunch plural of crunch

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crunched and crunches apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
crunched
8 ch
crunches

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crunched is /kɹʌnt͡ʃt/ while crunches is /ˈkɹʌnt͡ʃɪz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “crunched” becomes s in “crunches”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crunched is recorded at frequency rank #48,685, classified as averb, pronounced /kɹʌnt͡ʃt/. crunches is at rank #39,265, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹʌnt͡ʃɪz/.

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 87950, this pair ranks #6,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crunched vs crunches

Shared letters: cehnru. Private to "crunched": d. Private to "crunches": s.

"crunched" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC  ·  "crunches" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crunchedccrunched · crnuched · crrunched · crucnhed · cruncched · cruncehd · crunchde · crunchedd
  • crunchesccrunches · crnuches · crrunches · crucnhes · cruncches · cruncehs · crunchess · crunchhes

Frequency comparison

crunched#48,685
crunches#39,265

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crunched" and "crunches" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crunched" is a verb and "crunches" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crunched" or "crunches"?
"crunches" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,265 in our English list, against #48,685 for "crunched". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crunched vs crunches

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “crunched”; for a noun, it's “crunches”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crunched” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list