caléevscréeConfusable pair

Quick tell: calée is a adjective, crée is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“calée” is an adjective and “crée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,384
“calée” frequency rank
#2,272
“crée” frequency rank
50656
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature calée crée
Definition Féminin singulier de calé. Sorte de toile.

Where the eye mixes calée and crée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
calée
4 ch
crée

Look-alike desk: calée vs crée

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: calée is \ka.le\ while crée is \kʁe.ə\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

calée is recorded at frequency rank #48,384, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.le\. crée is at rank #2,272, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁe.ə\.

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 50656, this pair ranks #160,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of calée vs crée

Shared letters: ceé. Private to "calée": al. Private to "crée": r.

"calée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "crée" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "calée" for "crée" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "calée" is an adjective and "crée" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "calée" or "crée" show up more?
"crée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,272 in our French list, against #48,384 for "calée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "calée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,957 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "calée" and "crée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cakes vs calée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #160,957 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list