Which to use
“crow” and “cry” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,485
- “crow” frequency rank
- #22,822
- “cry” frequency rank
- 57307
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crow | cry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corneille. | Cri. |
Where the eye mixes crow and cry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses crow with cry
A purely visual mix-up. crow (\kɹəʊ\) and cry (\ˈkɹaɪ\) 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 57307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crow is recorded at frequency rank #34,485, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɹəʊ\. cry is at rank #22,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈkɹaɪ\.
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 57307, this pair ranks #115,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of crow vs cry
Shared letters: cr. Private to "crow": ow. Private to "cry": y.
"crow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "cry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- crow ← ccrow · corw · croww · crrow · crwo · rcow
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "crow" and "cry" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "crow" or "cry"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "crow" and "cry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "crow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,844 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crow" and "cry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ciro vs crow". 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 #115,844 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.