créevscrueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,272
“crée” frequency rank
#9,300
“crue” frequency rank
11572
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crée crue
Definition Sorte de toile. Augmentation temporaire et généralement rapide du débit ou du niveau d’un cours d’eau, liée aux précipitations, à la fonte des neiges ou à d’autres apports.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
crée
4 ch
crue

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crée (\kʁe.ə\) and crue (\kʁy\) 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 - é in “crée” becomes u in “crue”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11572, 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\. crue is at rank #9,300, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁy\.

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 11572, this pair ranks #408,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of crée vs crue

Shared letters: cer. Private to "crée": é. Private to "crue": u.

"crée" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "crue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crueccrue · creu · crrue · rcue

Frequency comparison

crée#2,272
crue#9,300

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crée" and "crue" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁe.ə\ versus \kʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crée" or "crue"?
"crée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,272 in our French list, against #9,300 for "crue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crée vs crue

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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list