carêmevscrimeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“carême” and “crime” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,362
“carême” frequency rank
#1,907
“crime” frequency rank
19269
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carême crime
Definition Temps d’abstinence et de jeûne qui comprend quarante-six jours entre le mardi gras et le jour de Pâques, et pendant lequel un certain nombre de jeûnes, d’abstinences et d’autres privations sont ordonnées par l’Église. Infraction très grave, à la morale ou à la loi.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carême and crime apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
carême
5 ch
crime

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. carême (\ka.ʁɛm\) and crime (\kʁim\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19269, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carême is recorded at frequency rank #17,362, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁɛm\. crime is at rank #1,907, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁim\.

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 19269, this pair ranks #374,089 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of carême vs crime

Shared letters: cemr. Private to "carême": . Private to "crime": i.

"carême" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "crime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crimeccrime · cirme · criem · crimme · crmie · crrime · rcime

Frequency comparison

carême#17,362
crime#1,907

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carême" and "crime" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʁɛm\ versus \kʁim\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "carême" or "crime"?
"crime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,907 in our French list, against #17,362 for "carême". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carême vs crime

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “carême” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list