Which to use
“chum” and “crim” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,959
- “chum” frequency rank
- #37,259
- “crim” frequency rank
- 56218
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | chum | crim |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ami (sans idée d’amour). | Criminel. |
Where the eye mixes chum and crim
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. chum and crim follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses chum with crim
A purely visual mix-up. chum (\tʃɔm\) and crim (\kɹɪm\) 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 56218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
chum is recorded at frequency rank #18,959, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʃɔm\. crim is at rank #37,259, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɹɪm\.
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 56218, this pair ranks #122,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of chum vs crim
Shared letters: cm. Private to "chum": hu. Private to "crim": ir.
"chum" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crim" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "chum" and "crim" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "chum" or "crim" 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 "chum" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crim" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #122,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "chum" and "crim" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CIP vs crim". 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 #122,488 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.