cracvscrameWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: crac is a onomatopoeia, crame is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“crac” is an onomatopoeia and “crame” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,255
“crac” frequency rank
#35,887
“crame” frequency rank
78142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crac crame
Definition Exprime le bruit que font certains corps, durs, secs et solides, soit en se frottant violemment, soit en éclatant. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de cramer.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
crac
5 ch
crame

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crac is \kʁak\ while crame is \kʁam\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (onomatopoeia vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78142, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crac is recorded at frequency rank #42,255, classified as anonomatopoeia, pronounced \kʁak\. crame is at rank #35,887, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁam\.

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 78142, this pair ranks #26,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crac vs crame

Shared letters: acr. Private to "crac": -. Private to "crame": em.

"crac" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "crame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • craccarc · ccrac · cracc · crca · crrac · rcac
  • cramecarme · ccrame · cramme · crmae · crrame · rcame

Frequency comparison

crac#42,255
crame#35,887

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crac" and "crame" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crac" is an onomatopoeia and "crame" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crac" or "crame"?
"crame" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,887 in our French list, against #42,255 for "crac". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crac vs crame

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an onomatopoeia, it's “crac”; for a verb, it's “crame”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crac” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list