crête

/\kʁɛt\/ noun

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#11,944

in French word usage

Misspellings

8

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

crête is aFrenchnoun. It means: Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête. Pronounced \kʁɛt\. Often confused with Cte and Crie.

Key facts for crête
PropertyValue
Headwordcrête
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\kʁɛt\
Letters5
Frequency rank#11,944
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of crête in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for crête is 5 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \kʁɛt\. Corpus data places it at rank #11,944 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it.Wiktionary records 18 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 8 documented wrong-spelling variants for crête, with forms such as "ccrête", "crete", and "crrête". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Cte", "Crie", "crue", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is crête, spelled C-R-Ê-T-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête.
  2. 2
    Proéminence charnue sur la tête de quelques reptiles…
  3. 3
    Huppe qui orne la tête de divers oiseaux.
  4. 4
    Pièce de fer en forme de crête qui surmonte un casque ou autre coiffure semblable.
  5. 5
    Ornement en forme de crête.
  6. 6
    Ligne de points hauts d'un relief séparant deux versants opposés.
  7. 7
    Partie la plus exaltée du parti montagnard à la Convention.
  8. 8
    Terre relevée sur les bords d’un fossé qui sépare deux champs.
  9. 9
    L’ensemble des tuiles faîtières d’un toit.
  10. 10
    Le chaperon d’une muraille.
  11. 11
    Partie supérieure du glacis ou parapet du chemin couvert.
  12. 12
    Ligne de feu d’une redoute.
  13. 13
    Saillie osseuse, étroite et allongée.
  14. 14
    Éminence allongée, constituée de deux arêtes.
  15. 15
    Sorte d’axe plat et angulaire.
  16. 16
    Petite passementerie à dent comme une crête, sorte d’agrément, servant à border ou encadrer des rideaux, des sièges, etc.
  17. 17
    Tas de blé qui est dans un bateau et qui est élevé en forme pyramidale.
  18. 18
    Signe diacritique en forme d’une ligne verticale suscrite et utilisé principalement pour indiquer un ton moyen dans l’écriture de certaines langues tonales.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccrête,crete,crrête,crtêe,crêet,crêtte,cêrte,rcête

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for crête

Misspelling Variants of "crête"

ccrête6crete5crrête6crtêe5crêet5crêtte6cêrte5rcête5
Misspelling Variants of "crête"

Frequency rank: #11,944 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "crête"?
"crête" is spelled C-R-Ê-T-E. The IPA pronunciation is \kʁɛt\.
What does "crête" mean?
As a noun, "crête" means: Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête.
What words are commonly confused with "crête"?
"crête" is commonly confused with "Cte", "Crie", "crue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "crête"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "crête" is \kʁɛt\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "crête" come from?
"crête" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.