créevscrêtesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,272
“crée” frequency rank
#23,503
“crêtes” frequency rank
25775
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crée crêtes
Definition Sorte de toile. Pluriel de crête.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
crée
6 ch
crêtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crée (\kʁe.ə\) and crêtes (\kʁɛt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25775, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crée is recorded at frequency rank #2,272, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁe.ə\. crêtes is at rank #23,503, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛt\.

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 25775, this pair ranks #338,900 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of crée vs crêtes

Shared letters: cer. Private to "crée": é. Private to "crêtes": stê.

"crée" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "crêtes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequency comparison

crée#2,272
crêtes#23,503

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crée" and "crêtes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁe.ə\ versus \kʁɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crée" or "crêtes"?
"crée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,272 in our French list, against #23,503 for "crêtes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering crée vs crêtes

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 “crée” 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