crachevscravacheWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“crache” and “cravache” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,347
“crache” frequency rank
#48,439
“cravache” frequency rank
60786
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crache cravache
Definition Rejet de métal en fusion par l'avant d'une tuyère. Tige flexible ayant la forme d’une badine, dont se sert le cavalier pour frapper sa monture.

Where the eye mixes crache and cravache

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. crache runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against cravache's 8 (CCVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
crache
8 ch
cravache

Visual trap between crache and cravache

A purely visual mix-up. crache (\kʁaʃ\) and cravache (\kʁa.vaʃ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60786, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crache is recorded at frequency rank #12,347, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁaʃ\. cravache is at rank #48,439, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁa.vaʃ\.

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 60786, this pair ranks #95,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crache vs cravache

Shared letters: acehr. Private to "crache": -. Private to "cravache": v.

"crache" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "cravache" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crache ← carche · ccrache · cracche · craceh · crachhe · crahce · crcahe · crrache
  • cravache ← carvache · ccravache · craavche · cravacche · cravaceh · cravachhe · cravahce · cravcahe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "crache" for "cravache" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kʁaʃ\ versus \kʁa.vaʃ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "crache" or "cravache" show up more?
"crache" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,347 in our French list, against #48,439 for "cravache". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "crache" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cravache" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #95,770 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crache" and "cravache" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coaches vs crache". 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 #95,770 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list