Which to use
“crains” and “crainte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,223
- “crains” frequency rank
- #5,022
- “crainte” frequency rank
- 13245
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crains | crainte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de crain. | Fait de craindre ou de redouter quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes crains and crainte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses crains with crainte
A purely visual mix-up. crains (\kʁɛ̃\) and crainte (\kʁɛ̃t\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13245, 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\. crainte is at rank #5,022, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃t\.
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 13245, this pair ranks #401,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crains vs crainte
Shared letters: acinr. Private to "crains": s. Private to "crainte": et.
"crains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "crainte" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crains" for "crainte" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "crains" or "crainte" show up more?
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 "crains" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crainte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,820 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crains" and "crainte" 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 #401,820 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.