Which to use
“causse” and “crosse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,174
- “causse” frequency rank
- #16,332
- “crosse” frequency rank
- 57506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | causse | crosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom donné dans le Massif Central à de hauts plateaux calcaires nus et arides. | Bâton pastoral d’évêque ou d’abbé, dont l’extrémité supérieure se recourbe en volute. |
Where the eye mixes causse and crosse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. causse (CVVCCV) and crosse (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: causse vs crosse
A purely visual mix-up. causse (\kos\) and crosse (\kʁɔs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
causse is recorded at frequency rank #41,174, classified as anoun, pronounced \kos\. crosse is at rank #16,332, 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 57506, this pair ranks #114,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of causse vs crosse
Shared letters: ces. Private to "causse": au. Private to "crosse": or.
"causse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "crosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "causse" and "crosse" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "causse" or "crosse" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "causse" and "crosse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "causse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "causse" and "crosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "causse vs causses". 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 #114,622 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.