crimvscrocWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,259
“crim” frequency rank
#31,426
“croc” frequency rank
68685
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crim croc
Definition Criminel. Instrument de fer, de bois, etc., à une ou plusieurs pointes recourbées, dont on se sert pour y pendre ou pour y attacher quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crim and croc apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
crim
4 ch
croc

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crim (\kɹɪm\) and croc (\kʁo\) 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 68685, 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\. croc is at rank #31,426, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁo\.

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 68685, this pair ranks #58,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crim vs croc

Shared letters: cr. Private to "crim": im. Private to "croc": o.

"crim" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "croc" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crimccrim · cirm · crimm · crmi · crrim · rcim
  • crocccroc · corc · crco · crocc · crroc · rcoc

Frequency comparison

crim#37,259
croc#31,426

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crim" and "croc" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɹɪm\ versus \kʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crim" or "croc"?
"croc" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,426 in our French list, against #37,259 for "crim". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crim vs croc

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