Which to use
“crains” and “crayons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,223
- “crains” frequency rank
- #18,974
- “crayons” frequency rank
- 27197
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crains | crayons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de crain. | Pluriel de crayon. |
Where the eye mixes crains and crayons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crains vs crayons
A purely visual mix-up. crains (\kʁɛ̃\) and crayons (\kʁɛ.jɔ̃\) 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 27197, 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\. crayons is at rank #18,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ.jɔ̃\.
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 27197, this pair ranks #330,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crains vs crayons
Shared letters: acnrs. Private to "crains": i. Private to "crayons": oy.
"crains" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "crayons" · 7 letters · shape CCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crains" for "crayons" ever safe?
Which is more common, "crains" or "crayons"?
What to do next
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 "crayons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crains" and "crayons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "canyons vs crayons". 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 #330,510 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.