crottevsculotteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“crotte” and “culotte” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,221
“crotte” frequency rank
#9,980
“culotte” frequency rank
32201
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crotte culotte
Definition Fiente, en forme de boulettes, de certains animaux. Pantalon court.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crotte and culotte apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
crotte
7 ch
culotte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crotte (\kʁɔt\) and culotte (\ky.lɔt\) 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 32201, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crotte is recorded at frequency rank #22,221, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɔt\. culotte is at rank #9,980, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ky.lɔt\.

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 32201, this pair ranks #298,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crotte vs culotte

Shared letters: ceot. Private to "crotte": r. Private to "culotte": lu.

"crotte" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "culotte" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crotteccrotte · cortte · crote · crotet · crrotte · crtote · rcotte
  • culottecculotte · cluotte · cullotte · culote · culotet · cultote · cuoltte · uclotte

Frequency comparison

crotte#22,221
culotte#9,980

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crotte" and "culotte" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kʁɔt\ versus \ky.lɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crotte" or "culotte"?
"culotte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,980 in our French list, against #22,221 for "crotte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crotte vs culotte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crotte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list