Which to use
“cran” and “crin” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,304
- “cran” frequency rank
- #42,257
- “crin” frequency rank
- 52561
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cran | crin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entaille qu’on fait à un corps dur pour accrocher ou arrêter quelque chose. | Poil long et rude qui pousse au cou, à la queue et aux extrémités inférieures des membres de certains animaux et spécialement des chevaux. |
Where the eye mixes cran and crin
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cran and crin follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cran with crin
A purely visual mix-up. cran (\kʁɑ̃\) and crin (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - a in “cran” becomes i in “crin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cran is recorded at frequency rank #10,304, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃\. crin is at rank #42,257, tagged as anoun, 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 52561, this pair ranks #146,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cran vs crin
Shared letters: cnr. Private to "cran": a. Private to "crin": i.
"cran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cran" and "crin" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "cran" or "crin" show up more?
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 "cran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crin" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,878 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cran" and "crin" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs crin". 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 #146,878 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.