Which to use
“croire” is a verb and “croque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #579
- “croire” frequency rank
- #18,703
- “croque” frequency rank
- 19282
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | croire | croque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tenir pour véritable. | Croque-monsieur. |
Where the eye mixes croire and croque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: croire vs croque
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: croire is \kʁwaʁ\ while croque is \kʁɔk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
croire is recorded at frequency rank #579, classified as averb, pronounced \kʁwaʁ\. croque is at rank #18,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔk\.
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 19282, this pair ranks #374,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of croire vs croque
Shared letters: ceor. Private to "croire": i. Private to "croque": qu.
"croire" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV · "croque" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "croire" for "croque" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "croire" or "croque" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "croire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "croque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #374,022 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "croire" and "croque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "croce vs croque". 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 #374,022 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.