crédulevscreuséWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,261
“crédule” frequency rank
#11,749
“creusé” frequency rank
54010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crédule creusé
Definition Qui croit trop facilement ce qu’on lui dit, prompt à croire quelqu’un. (En parlant du visage ou de parties du visage) Empreint de creux, émacié.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crédule and creusé apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
crédule
6 ch
creusé

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crédule (\kʁe.dyl\) and creusé (\kʁø.ze\) 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 54010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crédule is recorded at frequency rank #42,261, classified as anadj, pronounced \kʁe.dyl\. creusé is at rank #11,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁø.ze\.

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 54010, this pair ranks #136,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crédule vs creusé

Shared letters: cerué. Private to "crédule": dl. Private to "creusé": s.

"crédule" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "creusé" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Frequency comparison

crédule#42,261
creusé#11,749

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crédule" and "creusé" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁe.dyl\ versus \kʁø.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crédule" or "creusé"?
"creusé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,749 in our French list, against #42,261 for "crédule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crédule vs creusé

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crédule” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list