Which to use
“crains” is a noun and “craint” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,223
- “crains” frequency rank
- #4,477
- “craint” frequency rank
- 12700
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crains | craint |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de crain. | Participe passé masculin singulier de craindre. |
Same sound, different letters: crains vs craint
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. crains and craint follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Same sound, different spelling - crains / craint
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: crains and craint carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kʁɛ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - s in “crains” becomes t in “craint”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crains is recorded at frequency rank #8,223, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\. craint is at rank #4,477, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\.
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 12700, this pair ranks #404,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crains vs craint
Shared letters: acinr. Private to "crains": s. Private to "craint": t.
"crains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "craint" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crains" for "craint" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crains" vs "craint" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"crains" and "craint" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "crains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "craint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crains" and "craint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caïds vs crains". 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 #404,148 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.