cratèrevscritèresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,496
“cratère” frequency rank
#3,064
“critères” frequency rank
22560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cratère critères
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. Pluriel de critère.

Where the eye mixes cratère and critères

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cratère runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against critères's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
cratère
8 ch
critères

Look-alike desk: cratère vs critères

A purely visual mix-up. cratère (\kʁa.tɛʁ\) and critères (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22560, 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\. critères is at rank #3,064, 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 22560, this pair ranks #357,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cratère vs critères

Shared letters: certè. Private to "cratère": a. Private to "critères": is.

"cratère" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "critères" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cratère" and "critères" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kʁa.tɛʁ\ versus \kʁi.tɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cratère" vs "critères" - which ranks higher?
"critères" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,064 in our French list, against #19,496 for "cratère". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cratère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "critères" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #357,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cratère" and "critères" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cratère vs cratères". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #357,331 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