Which to use
“crin” and “crue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,257
- “crin” frequency rank
- #9,300
- “crue” frequency rank
- 51557
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crin | crue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poil long et rude qui pousse au cou, à la queue et aux extrémités inférieures des membres de certains animaux et spécialement des chevaux. | 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 crin and crue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. crin (CCVC) and crue (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses crin with crue
A purely visual mix-up. crin (\kʁɛ̃\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crin is recorded at frequency rank #42,257, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛ̃\. 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 51557, this pair ranks #154,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crin vs crue
Shared letters: cr. Private to "crin": in. Private to "crue": eu.
"crin" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "crue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crin" for "crue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crin" vs "crue" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crin" 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 #154,123 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crin" and "crue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coon vs crin". 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 #154,123 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.