Which to use
“crâne” and “crash” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,659
- “crâne” frequency rank
- #7,044
- “crash” frequency rank
- 11703
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crâne | crash |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Assemblage des os de la tête, partie du squelette destinée à protéger l’encéphale. | Atterrissage très brutal d’un avion le train rentré. |
Where the eye mixes crâne and crash
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. crâne (CCVCV) and crash (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses crâne with crash
A purely visual mix-up. crâne (\kʁɑn\) and crash (\kʁaʃ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crâne is recorded at frequency rank #4,659, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑn\. crash is at rank #7,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁaʃ\.
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 11703, this pair ranks #408,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crâne vs crash
Shared letters: cr. Private to "crâne": enâ. Private to "crash": ahs.
"crâne" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crash" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- crash ← carsh · ccrash · crahs · crashh · crassh · crrash · crsah · rcash
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crâne" for "crash" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crâne" vs "crash" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "crâne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #408,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crâne" and "crash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs crash". 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 #408,160 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.