crust
/kɹʌst/
"crust" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crust” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,194 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #11,194
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.
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 | crust |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɹʌst/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #11,194 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crust” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for crust is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹʌst/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,194 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for crust, with forms such as "ccrust", "crrust", and "crsut". 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, "cut", "CST", "cult", 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 cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old Engl… The correct English form is crust, spelled C-R-U-S-T.
Definition
- 1A more solid, dense or hard layer on a surface or boundary.
- 2The external, hardened layer of certain foodstuffs, including most types of bread, fried meat, etc.
- 3An outer layer composed of pastry
- 4The bread-like base of a pizza.
- 5A slice of bread cut from the end of a loaf; the heel.
- 6The outermost layer of the lithosphere of the Earth.
- 7The outermost layer of the lithosphere of any terrestrial planet.
- 8The shell of crabs, lobsters, etc.
- 9A living.
- 10Nerve, gall.
- 11The head.
- 12Ellipsis of crust punk, a subgenre of punk music.
Etymology
From Middle English cruste, from Anglo-Norman and Old French cruste, from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering”), from Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”), related to Old Norse hroðr (“scurf”), Old English hruse (“earth”), Old High German hrosa (“crust, ice”), Latvian kruvesis (“frozen mud”), Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “frost, icy cold”), κρύσταλλος (krústallos, “crystal, ice”), Avestan 𐬑𐬭𐬎𐬰𐬛𐬭𐬀- (xruzdra-, “hard”), Sanskrit क्रूड् (krūḍ, “thicken, make hard”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccrust,crrust,crsut,crusst,crustt,cruts,curst,rcust
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crust - 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
How do you spell "crust"?
What does "crust" mean?
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Using “crust”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-U-S-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɹʌst/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cut” - see the side-by-side comparison. crust vs cut
- 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.