carrésvscruesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,058
“carrés” frequency rank
#15,117
“crues” frequency rank
21175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature carrés crues
Definition Masculin pluriel de carré. Féminin pluriel de cru.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set carrés and crues apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
carrés
5 ch
crues

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. carrés (\ka.ʁe\) and crues (\kʁy\) 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 21175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

carrés is recorded at frequency rank #6,058, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.ʁe\. crues is at rank #15,117, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁy\.

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 21175, this pair ranks #364,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of carrés vs crues

Shared letters: crs. Private to "carrés": . Private to "crues": eu.

"carrés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "crues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cruesccrues · creus · crrues · cruess · cruse · rcues

Frequency comparison

carrés#6,058
crues#15,117

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "carrés" and "crues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ka.ʁe\ versus \kʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "carrés" or "crues"?
"carrés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,058 in our French list, against #15,117 for "crues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering carrés vs crues

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 “carrés” 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