creuséesvscroiséesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#33,199
“creusées” frequency rank
#18,976
“croisées” frequency rank
52175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature creusées croisées
Definition Féminin pluriel de creusé. Féminin pluriel de croisé.

Where the eye mixes creusées and croisées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. creusées and croisées follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
creusées
8 ch
croisées

Why the eye confuses creusées with croisées

A purely visual mix-up. creusées (\kʁø.ze\) and croisées (\kʁwa.ze\) 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 52175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

creusées is recorded at frequency rank #33,199, classified as anadj, pronounced \kʁø.ze\. croisées is at rank #18,976, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁwa.ze\.

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 52175, this pair ranks #149,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of creusées vs croisées

Shared letters: cersé. Private to "creusées": u. Private to "croisées": io.

"creusées" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVVC  ·  "croisées" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "creusées" for "croisées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kʁø.ze\ versus \kʁwa.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "creusées" vs "croisées" - which ranks higher?
"croisées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,976 in our French list, against #33,199 for "creusées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "creusées" and "croisées" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "creusées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "croisées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #149,573 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "creusées" and "croisées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creusées vs creuset". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #149,573 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list