Which to use
“cratère” and “critère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,496
- “cratère” frequency rank
- #7,046
- “critère” frequency rank
- 26542
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cratère | critère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vase à deux anses, plus large que profond, d’une grande capacité, contenant du vin et de l’eau mêlés, dont on remplissait les coupes qu’on passait ensuite à chaque convive. | Ce qui sert à distinguer dans une chose le vrai du faux. |
Where the eye mixes cratère and critère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cratère and critère follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses cratère with critère
A purely visual mix-up. cratère (\kʁa.tɛʁ\) and critère (\kʁi.tɛʁ\) 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 “cratère” becomes i in “critère”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26542, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cratère is recorded at frequency rank #19,496, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁa.tɛʁ\. critère is at rank #7,046, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁi.tɛʁ\.
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 26542, this pair ranks #334,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cratère vs critère
Shared letters: certè. Private to "cratère": a. Private to "critère": i.
"cratère" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "critère" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cratère" and "critère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "cratère" or "critère" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "cratère" and "critère" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cratère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "critère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #334,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cratère" and "critère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cratère vs cratères". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #334,359 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.