Which to use
“crible” and “crique” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,390
- “crible” frequency rank
- #32,361
- “crique” frequency rank
- 59751
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crible | crique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument percé d’un grand nombre de trous qui sert à trier des objets de grosseur ou de qualité inégales, en laissant passer les uns et en repoussant les autres. | Petite baie, partie du rivage qui forme dans les terres un enfoncement où de petits bateaux peuvent se mettre à l’abri. |
Where the eye mixes crible and crique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. crible (CCVCCV) and crique (CCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses crible with crique
A purely visual mix-up. crible (\kʁibl\) and crique (\kʁik\) 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 59751, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crible is recorded at frequency rank #27,390, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁibl\. crique is at rank #32,361, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁik\.
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 59751, this pair ranks #101,384 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crible vs crique
Shared letters: ceir. Private to "crible": bl. Private to "crique": qu.
"crible" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "crique" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "crible" and "crique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "crible" vs "crique" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,384 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crible" and "crique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crique vs criquets". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #101,384 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.