crackvscransWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,942
“crack” frequency rank
#41,202
“crans” frequency rank
53144
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crack crans
Definition Cheval de course performant ayant remporté de nombreuses victoires. Pluriel de cran.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
crack
5 ch
crans

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crack (\kʁak\) and crans (\kʁɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53144, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crack is recorded at frequency rank #11,942, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁak\. crans is at rank #41,202, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃\.

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 53144, this pair ranks #142,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crack vs crans

Shared letters: acr. Private to "crack": k. Private to "crans": ns.

"crack" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "crans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crackcarck · ccrack · cracck · crackk · crakc · crcak · crrack · rcack
  • cranscarns · ccrans · cranns · cranss · crasn · crnas · crrans · rcans

Frequency comparison

crack#11,942
crans#41,202

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crack" and "crans" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁak\ versus \kʁɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crack" or "crans"?
"crack" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,942 in our French list, against #41,202 for "crans". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crack vs crans

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crack” 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