Which to use
“cae” is a verb and “Crie” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,819
- “cae” frequency rank
- #6,488
- “Crie” frequency rank
- 50307
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cae | Crie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif du verbe irrégulier caer. | Membre féminin de la nation crie. |
Where the eye mixes cae and Crie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. cae runs 3 letters (CVV) against Crie's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cae with Crie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cae is \ˈka.e\ while Crie is \kʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cae is recorded at frequency rank #43,819, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈka.e\. Crie is at rank #6,488, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁi\.
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 50307, this pair ranks #163,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cae vs Crie
Shared letters: ce. Private to "cae": a. Private to "Crie": ir.
"cae" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "Crie" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Crie ← ccrie · crei · crrie · rcie
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cae" and "Crie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cae" or "Crie" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cae" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Crie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cae" and "Crie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cae vs CCE". 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 #163,706 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.