Which to use
“cra” is an adverb and “crau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,201
- “cra” frequency rank
- #44,959
- “crau” frequency rank
- 86160
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cra | crau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | très | Plaine semée de pierres et de galets arrondis, couverte d’une steppe propice aux activités pastorales. |
Where the eye mixes cra and crau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cra runs 3 letters (CCV) against crau's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses cra with crau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cra is \kʁa\ while crau is \kʁo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cra” sits inside “crau”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86160, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cra is recorded at frequency rank #41,201, classified as anadv, pronounced \kʁa\. crau is at rank #44,959, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\.
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 86160, this pair ranks #10,143 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cra vs crau
Shared letters: acr. Private to "cra": -. Private to "crau": u.
"cra" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "crau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- crau ← caru · ccrau · crrau · crua · rcau
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cra" and "crau" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cra" or "crau"?
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 "cra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,143 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cra" and "crau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs crau". 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 #10,143 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.