Which to use
“crise” and “cross” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,109
- “crise” frequency rank
- #8,369
- “cross” frequency rank
- 9478
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crise | cross |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Changement en bien ou en mal qui survient dans le cours d’une maladie et s’annonce par quelques phénomènes particuliers, comme une excrétion abondante, une hémorragie considérable, des sueurs, un dépôt dans les urines, etc. | Sorte de course à pied hors route. |
Where the eye mixes crise and cross
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: crise vs cross
A purely visual mix-up. crise (\kʁiz\) and cross (\kʁɔs\) 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 9478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crise is recorded at frequency rank #1,109, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁiz\. cross is at rank #8,369, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔs\.
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 9478, this pair ranks #416,495 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of crise vs cross
Shared letters: crs. Private to "crise": ei. Private to "cross": o.
"crise" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "cross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "crise" and "cross" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "crise" or "cross" show up more?
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 "crise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,495 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crise" and "cross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "croco vs cross". 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 #416,495 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.