If you can start the engine make sure the shift cable is not stretched. The gear selector unit will lock the key if it thinks the vehicle is in gear, there might be something else behind the steering wheel thats part of the safety neutral switch.
Other than that inspect ignition switch and ign. Tumbler.
Something else might be at play but lets hope is something simple.

Btw inspect the brake light switch stopper area. Make sure all switches there have the stopper piece.

 

The transmission gear selector has a switch in it that allows the key to be removed when the gear selector is in park. If that fails then you have the symptoms you have now. Unable to remove the key unless the power is disconnected.

 

I checked the position sensor/switch. I unplugged the connector, and found in Haynes manual which pins should have continuity for each shift position. It's all OK. Reverse lights come on in R. The little position indicator lights come on in the right position. So I don't think it's the position switch or a stretched shift cable.

It's definitely something electrical because the key comes out fine with the battery disconnected. I finally pulled the fuse for that whole circuit and the key comes out, but there's the danger that it will now start in gear and if I bumped the key while moving, it might go into lock position.

I don't think it's the ignition switch assembly itself because unplugging the battery/pulling the fuse allows the key to come out.

 

Boy, I didn’t know any of this concerning these switches! What year is your CR-V? We presently have two 1998 CR-V’s that we bought used several years ago and both now have well over 200K on each.

My wife went to work a few years ago and when she turned the ignition off, she couldn’t get her keys out of the ignition. She called me to let me know. I went and sprayed WD-40 into the ignition even with key stuck into it. I GENTLY wiggled the key back and forth many times and the key came out. It’s now worked perfectly for a few more years.

About 1 1/2 years ago, the ignition started acting up again. When she would put her key in, the ignition wouldn’t turn unless she wiggled it over and over and it would finally turn and start. I went again and sprayed inside the ignition with the key out with lube, (your choice!), and I turned the key off and on many, many times. Since then, no more problems.

I think that the ignition tumblers in these 1st. Gen. CR-V’s need to be lubed now and again to operate. One thing I did do after this second time was to lighten our key chains and even put our CR-V keys on a separate split ring easily attached and removed from the main keychain to use in our CR-V’s ignitions with no weight attached.

I now spray lube into both our ignition switches about twice a year and turn them on and off several times and they both work great with no problems.

Take all of this with a grain of salt but it sure has worked for us!

 

Here is a youtube video that might help. This may or may not be your issue.

 

I checked the gear range sensor/ neutral safety switch. It was fine. I didn't want to take the steering column apart, so I took it to the independent mechanic that we go. He said he was initially baffled to. What he ultimately found, made me laugh. This is actually my daughter's car. He found in the steering column one of hose elastic hair bands that women use to make pony tails and such, and it was tangled with the solenoid that operates the key release. He said he's saved the hair band for me. I'm going to give my daughter some (good-natured) grief. I doubt this resolution will be of much help to anyone else who searches for answers to this problem, however.

Edit: And now that I think about it, it's actually my fault. I've been driving her car for several weeks and when I was cleaning the car out, I had found a hair band and stuck it on the shift lever so she could find it. There's a huge gap around the shift lever on the steering column. I'll bet it just worked it's way in and got chewed up and tangled. The mechanic gave it to me.