craie
\kʁɛ\
The verdict
“craie” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #20,105 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #20,105
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Roche biogène de couleur blanche, constituée presque exclusivement de carbonate de calcium provenant essentiellement des débris de l’exosquelette de microorganismes planctoniques vivants au Crétacé.
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 | craie |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \kʁɛ\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #20,105 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “craie” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for craie is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kʁɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #20,105 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for craie, with forms such as "ccraie", "craei", and "criae". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "cri", "Cré", "crée", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is craie, spelled C-R-A-I-E.
Definition
- 1Roche biogène de couleur blanche, constituée presque exclusivement de carbonate de calcium provenant essentiellement des débris de l’exosquelette de microorganismes planctoniques vivants au Crétacé.
- 2Morceau de calcaire taillé en bâtonnet et utilisé pour écrire sur un tableau noir.
- 3Cube bleu que l’on applique sur le procédé de la queue afin d’éviter les frottements.
- 4Petite blancheur qui apparaît sur la peau de certains fruits (mirabelle, quetsche, raisin, etc.) ; pruine.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccraie,craei,criae,crraie,rcaie
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of craie - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "craie"?
What does "craie" mean?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “craie”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is C-R-A-I-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \kʁɛ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “cri” - see the side-by-side comparison. craie vs cri
- 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.