crampevscrasseTell them apart

Quick tell: crampe is a noun, crasse is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“crampe” is a noun and “crasse” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,888
“crampe” frequency rank
#20,106
“crasse” frequency rank
55994
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crampe crasse
Definition Contraction spasmodique, douloureuse qui se fait sentir principalement à la jambe et au pied. Qui est épais.

Where the eye mixes crampe and crasse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. crampe and crasse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
crampe
6 ch
crasse

Look-alike desk: crampe vs crasse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crampe is \kʁɑ̃p\ while crasse is \kʁas\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55994, 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\. crasse is at rank #20,106, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁas\.

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 55994, this pair ranks #123,885 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crampe vs crasse

Shared letters: acer. Private to "crampe": mp. Private to "crasse": s.

"crampe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "crasse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crampe ← carmpe · ccrampe · cramep · crammpe · cramppe · crapme · crmape · crrampe
  • crasse ← carsse · ccrasse · crase · crases · crrasse · crsase · rcasse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "crampe" and "crasse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crampe" is a noun and "crasse" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crampe" or "crasse"?
"crasse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,106 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.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "crampe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crasse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,885 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crampe" and "crasse" 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 #123,885 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