Which to use
“cath” and “crash” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,167
- “cath” frequency rank
- #7,044
- “crash” frequency rank
- 47211
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cath | crash |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chat (animal). | Atterrissage très brutal d’un avion le train rentré. |
Where the eye mixes cath and crash
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cath runs 4 letters (CVCC) against crash's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cath vs crash
A purely visual mix-up. cath (\kaːθ\) and crash (\kʁaʃ\) 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 47211, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cath is recorded at frequency rank #40,167, classified as anoun, pronounced \kaːθ\. crash is at rank #7,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁaʃ\.
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 47211, this pair ranks #188,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cath vs crash
Shared letters: ach. Private to "cath": t. Private to "crash": rs.
"cath" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "crash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cath" and "crash" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "cath" vs "crash" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "cath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #188,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cath" and "crash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canto vs cath". 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 #188,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.