Which to use
“crans” and “criss” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,202
- “crans” frequency rank
- #41,207
- “criss” frequency rank
- 82409
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crans | criss |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cran. | Poignard dont la lame est parfois en zigzag à l’usage des Malais. |
Where the eye mixes crans and criss
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. crans and criss follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses crans with criss
A purely visual mix-up. crans (\kʁɑ̃\) and criss (\kʁis\) 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 82409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crans is recorded at frequency rank #41,202, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɑ̃\. criss is at rank #41,207, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁis\.
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 82409, this pair ranks #16,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crans vs criss
Shared letters: crs. Private to "crans": an. Private to "criss": i.
"crans" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "criss" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crans" and "criss" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "crans" or "criss" 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 "crans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "criss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,801 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crans" and "criss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCAS vs crans". 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 #16,801 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.