Which to use
“crème” and “crête” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,191
- “crème” frequency rank
- #11,944
- “crête” frequency rank
- 15135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crème | crête |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie la plus grasse du lait, avec laquelle on fait le beurre. | Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête. |
Where the eye mixes crème and crête
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. crème and crête follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: crème vs crête
A purely visual mix-up. crème (\kʁɛm\) and crête (\kʁɛt\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crème is recorded at frequency rank #3,191, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛm\. crête is at rank #11,944, 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 15135, this pair ranks #393,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crème vs crête
Shared letters: cer. Private to "crème": mè. Private to "crête": tê.
"crème" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crête" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crème" for "crête" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crème" vs "crête" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "crème" and "crête" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "crème" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crête" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,706 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crème" and "crête" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cese vs crête". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #393,706 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.