Which to use
“crane” and “crime” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,140
- “crane” frequency rank
- #33,514
- “crime” frequency rank
- 72654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crane | crime |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grulla. | Crimen. |
Where the eye mixes crane and crime
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. crane and crime follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between crane and crime
A purely visual mix-up. crane (/kɹeɪn/) and crime (/kʁim/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crane is recorded at frequency rank #39,140, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹeɪn/. crime is at rank #33,514, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kʁim/.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 72654, this pair ranks #24,927 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crane vs crime
Shared letters: cer. Private to "crane": an. Private to "crime": im.
"crane" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crane" for "crime" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crane" vs "crime" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crane" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crime" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #24,927 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crane" and "crime" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cade vs crane". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #24,927 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.