Which to use
“colin” and “crin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,822
- “colin” frequency rank
- #42,257
- “crin” frequency rank
- 51079
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colin | crin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom vernaculaire ambigu donné vulgairement à plusieurs genres de poissons osseux de l'ordre des gadiformes, dont les différentes espèces de lieu (Theragra spp. et Pollachius spp.) et le merlu commun (Merlucchius merlucchius), et à deux genres de poissons de l'ordre des perciformes (Dissostichus et Notothenia). | Poil long et rude qui pousse au cou, à la queue et aux extrémités inférieures des membres de certains animaux et spécialement des chevaux. |
Where the eye mixes colin and crin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. colin runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against crin's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between colin and crin
A purely visual mix-up. colin (\kɔ.lɛ̃\) and crin (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 51079, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colin is recorded at frequency rank #8,822, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛ̃\. crin is at rank #42,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\.
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 51079, this pair ranks #157,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of colin vs crin
Shared letters: cin. Private to "colin": lo. Private to "crin": r.
"colin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "crin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "colin" for "crin" ever safe?
Which is more common, "colin" or "crin"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "colin" and "crin" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "colin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #157,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colin" and "crin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs crin". 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 #157,765 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.