croisementvscroissentWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: croisement is a noun, croissent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“croisement” is a noun and “croissent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,543
“croisement” frequency rank
#43,870
“croissent” frequency rank
56413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature croisement croissent
Definition Action par laquelle deux choses se croisent Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de croître (ou croitre).

Where the eye mixes croisement and croissent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. croisement runs 10 letters (CCVVCVCVCC) against croissent's 9 (CCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
croisement
9 ch
croissent

Why the eye confuses croisement with croissent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: croisement is \kʁwaz.mɑ̃\ while croissent is \kʁwas\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

croisement is recorded at frequency rank #12,543, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁwaz.mɑ̃\. croissent is at rank #43,870, tagged as averb, pronounced \kʁwas\.

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 56413, this pair ranks #121,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of croisement vs croissent

Shared letters: ceinorst. Private to "croisement": m. Private to "croissent": -.

"croisement" · 10 letters · shape CCVVCVCVCC  ·  "croissent" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • croisementccroisement · corisement · criosement · croiesment · croiseemnt · croisemennt · croisementt · croisemetn
  • croissentccroissent · corissent · criossent · croisesnt · croissennt · croissentt · croissetn · croissnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "croisement" and "croissent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "croisement" is a noun and "croissent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "croisement" or "croissent"?
"croisement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,543 in our French list, against #43,870 for "croissent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "croisement" and "croissent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "croisement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "croissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,245 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "croisement" and "croissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "croisant vs croissent". 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 #121,245 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list