cracvscrocWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#42,255
“crac” frequency rank
#31,426
“croc” frequency rank
73681
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crac croc
Definition Exprime le bruit que font certains corps, durs, secs et solides, soit en se frottant violemment, soit en éclatant. Instrument de fer, de bois, etc., à une ou plusieurs pointes recourbées, dont on se sert pour y pendre ou pour y attacher quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
crac
4 ch
croc

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crac is \kʁak\ while croc is \kʁo\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “crac” becomes o in “croc”, and the parts of speech differ too (onomatopoeia vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73681, 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\. croc is at rank #31,426, 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 73681, this pair ranks #39,639 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crac vs croc

Shared letters: cr. Private to "crac": a. Private to "croc": o.

"crac" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "croc" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • craccarc · ccrac · cracc · crca · crrac · rcac
  • crocccroc · corc · crco · crocc · crroc · rcoc

Frequency comparison

crac#42,255
croc#31,426

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crac" and "croc" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crac" is an onomatopoeia and "croc" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crac" or "croc"?
"croc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,426 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 croc

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an onomatopoeia, it's “crac”; for a noun, it's “croc”.
  • 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