chromevscrèmeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#11,367
“chrome” frequency rank
#3,191
“crème” frequency rank
14558
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chrome crème
Definition Élément chimique métallique de symbole Cr et de numéro atomique 24. Partie la plus grasse du lait, avec laquelle on fait le beurre.

Where the eye mixes chrome and crème

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
chrome
5 ch
crème

Visual trap between chrome and crème

A purely visual mix-up. chrome (\kʁom\) and crème (\kʁɛm\) 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 14558, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chrome is recorded at frequency rank #11,367, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁom\. crème is at rank #3,191, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛm\.

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 14558, this pair ranks #396,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chrome vs crème

Shared letters: cemr. Private to "chrome": ho. Private to "crème": è.

"chrome" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV  ·  "crème" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • chromecchrome · chhrome · chorme · chrmoe · chroem · chromme · chrrome · crhome

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chrome" for "crème" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kʁom\ versus \kʁɛm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "chrome" vs "crème" - which ranks higher?
"crème" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,191 in our French list, against #11,367 for "chrome". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chrome" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crème" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,153 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chrome" and "crème" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chrome vs croce". 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 #396,153 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list