crampevscraqueTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,888
“crampe” frequency rank
#14,897
“craque” frequency rank
50785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crampe craque
Definition Contraction spasmodique, douloureuse qui se fait sentir principalement à la jambe et au pied. Mensonge.

Where the eye mixes crampe and craque

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. crampe (CCVCCV) and craque (CCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
crampe
6 ch
craque

Visual trap between crampe and craque

A purely visual mix-up. crampe (\kʁɑ̃p\) and craque (\kʁak\) 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 50785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crampe is recorded at frequency rank #35,888, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃p\. craque is at rank #14,897, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁak\.

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 50785, this pair ranks #160,004 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crampe vs craque

Shared letters: acer. Private to "crampe": mp. Private to "craque": qu.

"crampe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "craque" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crampe ← carmpe · ccrampe · cramep · crammpe · cramppe · crapme · crmape · crrampe
  • craque ← carque · ccraque · craqeu · craqque · crauqe · crqaue · crraque · rcaque

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crampe" and "craque" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁɑ̃p\ versus \kʁak\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "crampe" vs "craque" - which ranks higher?
"craque" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,897 in our French list, against #35,888 for "crampe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "crampe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "craque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,004 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crampe" and "craque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crade vs crampe". 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 #160,004 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