Which to use
“crime” and “crue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,907
- “crime” frequency rank
- #9,300
- “crue” frequency rank
- 11207
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crime | crue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Infraction très grave, à la morale ou à la loi. | Augmentation temporaire et généralement rapide du débit ou du niveau d’un cours d’eau, liée aux précipitations, à la fonte des neiges ou à d’autres apports. |
Where the eye mixes crime and crue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crime vs crue
A purely visual mix-up. crime (\kʁim\) and crue (\kʁy\) 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 11207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crime is recorded at frequency rank #1,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁim\. crue is at rank #9,300, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁy\.
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 11207, this pair ranks #410,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crime vs crue
Shared letters: cer. Private to "crime": im. Private to "crue": u.
"crime" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "crue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crime" for "crue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "crime" or "crue"?
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 "crime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,036 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crime" and "crue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "CCE vs crue". 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 #410,036 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.