Which to use
“caresses” and “crosses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,427
- “caresses” frequency rank
- #47,268
- “crosses” frequency rank
- 65695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | caresses | crosses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de caresse. | Pluriel de crosse. |
Where the eye mixes caresses and crosses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. caresses runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against crosses's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between caresses and crosses
A purely visual mix-up. caresses (\ka.ʁɛs\) and crosses (\kʁɔs\) 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 65695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
caresses is recorded at frequency rank #18,427, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.ʁɛs\. crosses is at rank #47,268, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔs\.
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 65695, this pair ranks #71,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of caresses vs crosses
Shared letters: cers. Private to "caresses": a. Private to "crosses": o.
"caresses" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "crosses" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "caresses" and "crosses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "caresses" vs "crosses" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "caresses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crosses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #71,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "caresses" and "crosses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causses vs crosses". 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 #71,163 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.