crouch
/kɹaʊt͡ʃ/
"crouch" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crouch” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #20,598 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #20,598
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 12
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear.
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 | crouch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /kɹaʊt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #20,598 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 12 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crouch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for crouch is 6 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹaʊt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #20,598 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for crouch, with forms such as "ccrouch", "coruch", and "crocuh". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "crush", "crunch", "crutch", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-Europea… The correct English form is crouch, spelled C-R-O-U-C-H.
Definition
- 1To bend down; to stoop low; to stand close to the ground with legs bent, like an animal when waiting for prey, or someone in fear.
- 2To bend servilely; to bow in reverence or humility.
Etymology
From Middle English crouchen (“to bend, crouch”), variant of croken (“to bend, crook”), from crok (“crook, hook”), from Old Norse krókr (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *gerg- (“wicker, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, wind, weave”). Compare Middle Dutch krōken (“to crook, curl”). More at crook.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccrouch,coruch,crocuh,croucch,crouchh,crouhc,crrouch,cruoch,rcouch
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crouch - 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "crouch"?
What does "crouch" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "crouch"?
How do you pronounce "crouch"?
What is the origin of the word "crouch"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “crouch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-O-U-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɹaʊt͡ʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “crush” - see the side-by-side comparison. crouch vs crush
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.