Which to use
“crasse” is an adjective and “crosse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,106
- “crasse” frequency rank
- #16,332
- “crosse” frequency rank
- 36438
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crasse | crosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est épais. | Bâton pastoral d’évêque ou d’abbé, dont l’extrémité supérieure se recourbe en volute. |
Where the eye mixes crasse and crosse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between crasse and crosse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crasse is \kʁas\ while crosse is \kʁɔs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “crasse” becomes o in “crosse”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36438, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crasse is recorded at frequency rank #20,106, classified as anadj, pronounced \kʁas\. crosse is at rank #16,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔs\.
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 36438, this pair ranks #269,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crasse vs crosse
Shared letters: cers. Private to "crasse": a. Private to "crosse": o.
"crasse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "crosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crasse" for "crosse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crasse" vs "crosse" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "crasse" and "crosse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "crasse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crasse" and "crosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crasse vs cuirasse". 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 #269,608 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.