crétins

\kʁe.tɛ̃\

/\kʁe.tɛ̃\/ adj

The verdict

“crétins” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #16,333. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#16,333
frequency rank, French
8,609
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Masculin pluriel de crétin.

Corpus desk

Index FR-cretins · crétins · French

crétins · rank #16,333 · 12 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #16,333
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 8,609
  • PHOTO-FINISH crosse

Nearest frequency peer: crosse (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « crétins »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « crétins » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

crétins vs crains
71% similar
crétins vs crétin
86% similar
crétins vs crêtes
57% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for crétins
PropertyValue
Headwordcrétins
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\kʁe.tɛ̃\
Letters7
Frequency rank#16,333
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « crétins »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).crétinsse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « crosse » (#16,332), « cyprien » (#16,334), « coûteuse » (#16,331). Parmi 8,609 lemmes en « C », « crétins » est au #16,333. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around crétins (IPA \kʁe.tɛ̃\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #16,333 among 8,609 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Masculin pluriel de crétin.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for crétins, with forms such as "ccrétins", "cretins", and "crrétins". 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, "crains", "crétin", "crêtes", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is crétins, spelled C-R-É-T-I-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Masculin pluriel de crétin.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how crétins appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. À l’aspect de ces étranges physionomies, il est difficile de décider si ces mammifères à plumes se crétinisent à ce métier, ou s’ils ne font pas ce métier parce qu’ils sont un peu crétins de naissance.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccrétins
  • cretins
  • crrétins
  • crtéins
  • créitns
  • crétinns
  • crétinss
  • crétisn
  • crétnis
  • créttins
  • cértins
  • rcétins

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of crétins - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ccrétins1cretins1crrétins1crtéins2créitns2crétinns1crétinss1crétisn2
Edit distance from "crétins"

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 "crétins"?
"crétins" is spelled C-R-É-T-I-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is \kʁe.tɛ̃\.
What does "crétins" mean?
As an adjective, "crétins" means: Masculin pluriel de crétin.
What words are commonly confused with "crétins"?
"crétins" is commonly confused with "crains", "crétin", "crêtes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "crétins"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "crétins" is \kʁe.tɛ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "crétins" come from?
"crétins" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "crétins", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list