crabe
\kʁab\
The verdict
“crabe” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #17,915 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #17,915
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Crustacé décapode, à large carapace, dont on mange la chair.
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 | crabe |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kʁab\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #17,915 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “crabe” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for crabe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kʁab\. Corpus data places it at rank #17,915 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 crabe, with forms such as "carbe", "ccrabe", and "crabbe". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Cré", "crée", "Crie", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is crabe, spelled C-R-A-B-E.
Definition
- 1Crustacé décapode, à large carapace, dont on mange la chair.
- 2Cancer (maladie).
- 3Comédien de second ordre.
- 4Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries. Il est assez peu présent en héraldique française mais plus fréquent en héraldique britannique. Il est généralement représenté vu de dessus, pattes écartées du corps (deux orientées vers le chef, deux vers la pointe), pinces vers le chef. À rapprocher de crevette, écrevisse et homard.
- 5Tige recourbée permettant de maintenir les planches de coffrage.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: carbe,ccrabe,crabbe,craeb,crbae,crrabe,rcabe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crabe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "crabe"?
What does "crabe" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "crabe"?
How do you pronounce "crabe"?
What language does "crabe" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “crabe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-R-A-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kʁab\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Cré” - see the side-by-side comparison. crabe vs Cré
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French 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.