criminal

[…]

/[…]/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“criminal” has 12 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #38,036. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#38,036
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - kriminell, verbrecherisch

Corpus desk

Index DE-criminal · criminal · German

criminal · rank #38,036 · 12 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #38,036
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH cortina

Nearest frequency peer: cortina (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rang-Peers am Tippfehler-Magneten „criminal“

Gleiche Seltenheitsbandbreite: nützlich, wenn ein Tippfehler auf ein Peer-Lemma trifft

corpus weight

What this shows „criminal“ sitzt unter diesen FrequencyWords-Peers; die Tippfehlertiefe steht separat im Edit-Distance-Chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

criminal vs critical
75% similar
criminal vs of
0% similar
criminal vs ii
25% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for criminal
PropertyValue
Headwordcriminal
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[…]
Letters8
Frequency rank#38,036
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „criminal“

Von links nach rechts: die wenigen Träger des Alltags, dann der lange Schwanz kaum gebrauchter Formen.criminalliegt hier neben dem Tippfehler-Druck:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „cortina“ (#38,035), „cupcakes“ (#38,037), „Cornflakes“ (#38,034). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „criminal“ bei #38,036. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around criminal (IPA […]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #38,036 among 1,273 “C” headwords. Dominant gloss: "kriminell, verbrecherisch".

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for criminal, with forms such as "ccriminal", "cirminal", and "criimnal". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "critical", "of", "ii", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct German form is criminal, spelled C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    kriminell, verbrecherisch

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how criminal appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. My brother is criminal.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccriminal
  • cirminal
  • criimnal
  • crimianl
  • criminall
  • criminla
  • criminnal
  • crimminal
  • crimnial
  • crmiinal
  • crriminal
  • rciminal

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of criminal - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ccriminal1cirminal2criimnal2crimianl2criminall1criminla2criminnal1crimminal1
Edit distance from "criminal"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "criminal"?
"criminal" is spelled C-R-I-M-I-N-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "criminal" mean?
As an adjective, "criminal" means: kriminell, verbrecherisch
What words are commonly confused with "criminal"?
"criminal" is commonly confused with "critical", "of", "ii". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "criminal"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "criminal" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "criminal" come from?
"criminal" is a German word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "criminal", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

cupcakes#38,037Despoten#38,046dienlich#38,049Discount#38,050

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).

Dreiecks12 variantsbehandle12 variantsErzfeind12 variantsausteilen12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list