Index: graphspell-js/char_player.js
==================================================================
--- graphspell-js/char_player.js
+++ graphspell-js/char_player.js
@@ -30,15 +30,15 @@
     ]),
 
     simplifyWord: function (sWord) {
         // word simplication before calculating distance between words
         sWord = sWord.toLowerCase();
-        sWord = ([...sWord].map(c => this._xTransCharsForSimplification.gl_get(c, c))).join('')
+        sWord = [...sWord].map(c => this._xTransCharsForSimplification.gl_get(c, c)).join('');
         let sNewWord = "";
         let i = 1;
         for (let c of sWord) {
-            if (c != sWord.slice(i, i+1)) {
+            if (c == 'e' || c != sWord.slice(i, i+1)) {  // exception for <e> to avoid confusion between crée / créai
                 sNewWord += c;
             }
             i++;
         }
         return sNewWord.replace(/eau/g, "o").replace(/au/g, "o").replace(/ai/g, "e").replace(/ei/g, "e").replace(/ph/g, "f");

Index: graphspell/char_player.py
==================================================================
--- graphspell/char_player.py
+++ graphspell/char_player.py
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@
 def simplifyWord (sWord):
     "word simplication before calculating distance between words"
     sWord = sWord.lower().translate(_xTransCharsForSimplification)
     sNewWord = ""
     for i, c in enumerate(sWord, 1):
-        if c != sWord[i:i+1]:
+        if c == 'e' or c != sWord[i:i+1]:  # exception for <e> to avoid confusion between crée / créai
             sNewWord += c
     return sNewWord.replace("eau", "o").replace("au", "o").replace("ai", "e").replace("ei", "e").replace("ph", "f")
 
 
 aVowel = set("aáàâäāeéèêëēiíìîïīoóòôöōuúùûüūyýỳŷÿȳœæAÁÀÂÄĀEÉÈÊËĒIÍÌÎÏĪOÓÒÔÖŌUÚÙÛÜŪYÝỲŶŸȲŒÆ")