crutch
/kɹʌt͡ʃ/
"crutch" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“crutch” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #32,752 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #32,752
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 9
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.
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 | crutch |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /kɹʌt͡ʃ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #32,752 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 9 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crutch” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for crutch is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɹʌt͡ʃ/. Corpus data places it at rank #32,752 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 7 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for crutch, with forms such as "ccrutch", "crrutch", and "crtuch". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "catch", "couch", "crush", 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 crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”). Co… The correct English form is crutch, spelled C-R-U-T-C-H.
Definition
- 1A device to assist in motion as a cane, especially one that provides support under the arm to reduce weight on a leg.
- 2Something or someone that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency; a prop
- 3A crotch; the area of body where the legs fork from the trunk.
- 4A form of pommel for a woman's saddle, consisting of a forked rest to hold the leg of the rider.
- 5A knee, or piece of knee timber.
- 6A forked stanchion or post; a crotch.
- 7An improvised device, usually made from a piece of cardboard, to hold the last end of a joint.
Etymology
From Middle English crucche, from Old English cryċċ (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krukkju, from Proto-Germanic *krukjō (“crutch, staff”), from Proto-Indo-European *grewg- (“wrinkle, bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate with Scots curche, crutch (“crutch, stilts”), Dutch kruk (“crutch”), Low German krukke, Krück (“crutch”), German Krücke (“crutch”), Swedish krycka (“crutch”). Latin crucia, crucca, croccia, crocia (“crutch”), and its descendants are ultimately from the Germanic.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccrutch,crrutch,crtuch,cructh,crutcch,crutchh,cruthc,cruttch,curtch,rcutch
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crutch - 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 "crutch"?
What does "crutch" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "crutch"?
How do you pronounce "crutch"?
What is the origin of the word "crutch"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “crutch”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is C-R-U-T-C-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /kɹʌt͡ʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “catch” - see the side-by-side comparison. crutch vs catch
- 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.