crest
/kɹɛst/
"crest" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crest” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #12,027. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #12,027
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
Corpus desk
Index EN-crest · crest · English
crest · rank #12,027 · 8 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #12,027
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 8 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH crafted
Nearest frequency peer: crafted (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “crest”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- corporal
corporal
87,977 corpus weight
- courtyard
courtyard
87,976 corpus weight
- crafted
crafted
87,975 corpus weight
- crest
crest
87,974 corpus weight
- crowned
crowned
87,973 corpus weight
- Cynthia
Cynthia
87,972 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “crest” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | crest |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɹɛst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #12,027 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crest” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 8 spelling variants around crest (IPA /kɹɛst/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #12,027 among 5,599 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for crest, with forms such as "ccrest", "cerst", and "cresst". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "CRT", "CST", "CRS", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista. The informal meaning “design, logo” (… The correct English form is crest, spelled C-R-E-S-T.
Definition
- 1The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
- 2A tuft, or other natural ornament, growing on an animal's head, for example the comb of a cockerel, the swelling on the head of a snake, the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc.
- 3The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
- 4A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.
- 5The upper curve of a horse's neck.
- 6The ridge or top of a wave.
- 7The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.
- 8The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.
- 9The top line of a slope or embankment.
- 10A ridge along the surface of a bone.
- 11A design or logo, especially one of an institution, sports club, association or high-class family.
- 12Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how crest appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest…
Etymology
From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista. The informal meaning “design, logo” (noun sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic noun sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- ccrest
- cerst
- cresst
- crestt
- crets
- crrest
- crset
- rcest
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crest - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "crest", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "crest". Here's where to go from here.
- "crest" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "CRT". View pair
- 8 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #12,027 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "C" letter cohort. C–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.