cranvsCRSWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,304
“cran” frequency rank
#12,348
“CRS” frequency rank
22652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cran CRS
Definition Entaille qu’on fait à un corps dur pour accrocher ou arrêter quelque chose. Variante orthographique de C.R.S.

Where the eye mixes cran and CRS

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
cran
3 ch
CRS

Why the eye confuses cran with CRS

A purely visual mix-up. cran (\kʁɑ̃\) and CRS (\se.ɛ.ʁɛs\) 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 22652, 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\. CRS is at rank #12,348, tagged as anoun, pronounced \se.ɛ.ʁɛs\.

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 22652, this pair ranks #356,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cran vs CRS

Shared letters: cr. Private to "cran": an. Private to "CRS": s.

"cran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "CRS" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crancarn · ccran · crann · crna · crran · rcan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cran" for "CRS" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kʁɑ̃\ versus \se.ɛ.ʁɛs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cran" or "CRS"?
"cran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,304 in our French list, against #12,348 for "CRS". 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 "cran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "CRS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #356,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cran" and "CRS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs CRS". 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 #356,831 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