cimesvscruesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cimes is a noun, crues is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cimes” is a noun and “crues” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,727
“cimes” frequency rank
#15,117
“crues” frequency rank
52844
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cimes crues
Definition Pluriel de cime. Féminin pluriel de cru.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cimes and crues apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
cimes
5 ch
crues

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cimes is \sim\ while crues is \kʁy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cimes is recorded at frequency rank #37,727, classified as anoun, pronounced \sim\. crues is at rank #15,117, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁy\.

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 52844, this pair ranks #144,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cimes vs crues

Shared letters: ces. Private to "cimes": im. Private to "crues": ru.

"cimes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "crues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cimesccimes · ciems · cimess · cimmes · cimse · cmies · icmes
  • cruesccrues · creus · crrues · cruess · cruse · rcues

Frequency comparison

cimes#37,727
crues#15,117

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cimes" and "crues" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cimes" is a noun and "crues" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cimes" or "crues"?
"crues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,117 in our French list, against #37,727 for "cimes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cimes vs crues

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cimes”; for an adjective, it's “crues”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cimes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list