crimvscrinWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,259
“crim” frequency rank
#42,257
“crin” frequency rank
79516
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crim crin
Definition Criminel. Poil long et rude qui pousse au cou, à la queue et aux extrémités inférieures des membres de certains animaux et spécialement des chevaux.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
crim
4 ch
crin

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crim (\kɹɪm\) and crin (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - m in “crim” becomes n in “crin”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crim is recorded at frequency rank #37,259, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɹɪm\. crin is at rank #42,257, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\.

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 79516, this pair ranks #23,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crim vs crin

Shared letters: cir. Private to "crim": m. Private to "crin": n.

"crim" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "crin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crimccrim · cirm · crimm · crmi · crrim · rcim
  • crinccrin · cirn · crinn · crni · crrin · rcin

Frequency comparison

crim#37,259
crin#42,257

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crim" and "crin" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɹɪm\ versus \kʁɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crim" or "crin"?
"crim" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,259 in our French list, against #42,257 for "crin". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crim vs crin

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 “crim” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list