crue

noun

"crue" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“crue” is uncommon English (frequency #77,573 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#77,573
frequency rank, English
43,570
“C” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Obsolete form of crew.

Key facts for crue
PropertyValue
Headwordcrue
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters4
Frequency rank#77,573
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “crue” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). crue lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

crue is uncommon English at frequency #77,573 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "Obsolete form of crew.".

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for crue, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct English form is crue, spelled C-R-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Obsolete form of crew.

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 "crue"?
"crue" is spelled C-R-U-E.
What does "crue" mean?
As a noun, "crue" means: Obsolete form of crew.
What language does "crue" come from?
"crue" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “crue”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is C-R-U-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list