Which to use
“crau” and “croc” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,959
- “crau” frequency rank
- #31,426
- “croc” frequency rank
- 76385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crau | croc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plaine semée de pierres et de galets arrondis, couverte d’une steppe propice aux activités pastorales. | Instrument de fer, de bois, etc., à une ou plusieurs pointes recourbées, dont on se sert pour y pendre ou pour y attacher quelque chose. |
Same sound, different letters: crau vs croc
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 2 letters. crau (CCVV) and croc (CCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - crau and croc
This is the hard kind. crau and croc are pronounced identically (\kʁo\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crau is recorded at frequency rank #44,959, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\. croc is at rank #31,426, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\.
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 76385, this pair ranks #31,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crau vs croc
Shared letters: cr. Private to "crau": au. Private to "croc": o.
"crau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "croc" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crau" for "croc" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "crau" or "croc" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "crau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "croc" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,307 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crau" and "croc" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chah vs crau". 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 #31,307 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.