Which to use
“cerne” and “crâne” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,332
- “cerne” frequency rank
- #4,659
- “crâne” frequency rank
- 47991
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cerne | crâne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cercle sombre qui se forme autour de l’œil. | Assemblage des os de la tête, partie du squelette destinée à protéger l’encéphale. |
Where the eye mixes cerne and crâne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cerne (CVCCV) and crâne (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses cerne with crâne
A purely visual mix-up. cerne (\sɛʁn\) and crâne (\kʁɑn\) 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 47991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cerne is recorded at frequency rank #43,332, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛʁn\. crâne is at rank #4,659, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑn\.
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 47991, this pair ranks #182,525 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cerne vs crâne
Shared letters: cenr. Private to "cerne": -. Private to "crâne": â.
"cerne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "crâne" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cerne ← ccerne · cenre · ceren · cernne · cerrne · crene · ecrne
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cerne" and "crâne" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cerne" or "crâne" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cerne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crâne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,525 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cerne" and "crâne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerne vs CNE". 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 #182,525 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.