cruel
/ˈkɹuːəl/
"cruel" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cruel” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #5,869 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #5,869
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.
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 | cruel |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈkɹuːəl/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #5,869 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cruel” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for cruel is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɹuːəl/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,869 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for cruel, with forms such as "ccruel", "creul", and "crruel". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cue", "Cruz", "cues", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude. The correct English form is cruel, spelled C-R-U-E-L.
Definition
- 1Intentionally causing or reveling in pain and suffering; merciless, heartless.
- 2Harsh; severe.
- 3Cool; awesome; neat.
Etymology
From Middle English cruel, borrowed from Old French cruel, from Latin crūdēlis (“hard, severe, cruel”), akin to crūdus (“raw, crude”); see crude.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccruel,creul,crruel,cruell,crule,curel,rcuel
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cruel - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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
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Using “cruel”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-U-E-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈkɹuːəl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cue” - see the side-by-side comparison. cruel vs cue
- 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.