cruse
/kɹuːs/
"cruse" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“cruse” is uncommon English (frequency #76,682 among 43,570 “C” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #76,682
- frequency rank, English
- 43,570
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A small jar used to hold liquid, such as oil or water.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cruse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɹuːs/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #76,682 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cruse” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
cruse is uncommon English at frequency #76,682 among 43,570 “C” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /kɹuːs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for cruse in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English crouse, from Old English crūse (“jar, cruse”), from Proto-West Germanic *krūsā, from Proto-Germanic *krūsǭ, *krūsaz (“jar, pot, collar, jug”). Cognate with German Krause (“pot with a lid”), Icelandic krús (“jar, jug”). Merged with Middle… The correct English form is cruse, spelled C-R-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1A small jar used to hold liquid, such as oil or water.
- 2An oil lamp; a crusy.
Etymology
From Middle English crouse, from Old English crūse (“jar, cruse”), from Proto-West Germanic *krūsā, from Proto-Germanic *krūsǭ, *krūsaz (“jar, pot, collar, jug”). Cognate with German Krause (“pot with a lid”), Icelandic krús (“jar, jug”). Merged with Middle English croo (“pot, pitcher”), from Old English crōg (“crock, pitcher, vessel”). More at crock.
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 “cruse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɹuːs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- 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.