crêpesvscrêteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,757
“crêpes” frequency rank
#11,944
“crête” frequency rank
24701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crêpes crête
Definition Pluriel de crêpe, sorte d’étoffe. Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crêpes and crête apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
crêpes
5 ch
crête

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crêpes (\kʁɛp\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crêpes is recorded at frequency rank #12,757, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛp\. 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 24701, this pair ranks #345,105 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of crêpes vs crête

Shared letters: cerê. Private to "crêpes": ps. Private to "crête": t.

"crêpes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "crête" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequency comparison

crêpes#12,757
crête#11,944

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crêpes" and "crête" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁɛp\ versus \kʁɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crêpes" or "crête"?
"crête" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,944 in our French list, against #12,757 for "crêpes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crêpes vs crête

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 “crêpes” 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