crêtevscrevéeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,944
“crête” frequency rank
#33,626
“crevée” frequency rank
45570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crête crevée
Definition Excroissance charnue que les coqs et quelques autres gallinacés ont sur leur tête. Trouée, échancrure, déchirure.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
crête
6 ch
crevée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crête (\kʁɛt\) and crevée (\kʁə.ve\) 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 45570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crête is recorded at frequency rank #11,944, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛt\. crevée is at rank #33,626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁə.ve\.

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 45570, this pair ranks #201,723 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crête vs crevée

Shared letters: cer. Private to "crête": . Private to "crevée": .

"crête" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "crevée" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Frequency comparison

crête#11,944
crevée#33,626

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crête" and "crevée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁɛt\ versus \kʁə.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crête" or "crevée"?
"crête" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,944 in our French list, against #33,626 for "crevée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crête vs crevée

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 “crête” 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