Which to use
“clés” is a noun and “crus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,666
- “clés” frequency rank
- #11,557
- “crus” frequency rank
- 14223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | clés | crus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de clé. | Masculin pluriel de cru. |
Where the eye mixes clés and crus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses clés with crus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: clés is \kle\ while crus 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 14223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
clés is recorded at frequency rank #2,666, classified as anoun, pronounced \kle\. crus is at rank #11,557, 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 14223, this pair ranks #397,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of clés vs crus
Shared letters: cs. Private to "clés": lé. Private to "crus": ru.
"clés" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crus" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- crus ← ccrus · crrus · crsu · cruss · curs · rcus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "clés" and "crus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "clés" or "crus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "clés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "clés" and "crus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casus vs crus". 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 #397,622 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.