cross the river
"cross-the-river" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cross the river” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of pass the river (to die)
Corpus desk
Index EN-cross-the-river · cross the river · English
cross the river · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 15 letters
- VOW-4 4 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "C" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cross the river |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cross the river” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
cross the river is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Synonym of pass the river (to die)".
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for cross the river, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is cross the river, spelled C-R-O-S-S- -T-H-E- -R-I-V-E-R.
Definition
- 1Synonym of pass the river (to die)
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how cross the river appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He had come back over the frontier of death. nails, spears, and a cross. Today bombs, mines, torpedoes, and shells. The same death. But death has lost its sting since Jesus crossed the river.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). 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.
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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.