critical

[…]

/[…]/ adj

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

The verdict

“critical” has 12 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #26,813. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,813
frequency rank, German
1,273
“C” headwords
12
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - sehr wichtig, essentiell, bedenklich, ausschlaggebend, erheblich

Corpus desk

Index DE-critical · critical · German

critical · rank #26,813 · 12 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,813
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 12 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,273
  • PHOTO-FINISH count

Nearest frequency peer: count (-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 „critical“

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

corpus weight

What this shows „critical“ 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).

critical vs of
0% similar
critical vs ii
25% similar
critical vs TO
0% similar

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

Key facts for critical
PropertyValue
Headwordcritical
LanguageGerman
Part of speechAdjective
IPA[…]
Letters8
Frequency rank#26,813
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Häufigkeitslage von Tippfehler-Magnet „critical“

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

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

Die Skala ist logarithmisch (jeder Tick ≈ 10× seltener). Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „count“ (#26,812), „Dachverband“ (#26,814), „complete“ (#26,811). Unter 1,273 „C“-Lemmata liegt „critical“ bei #26,813. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 12 spelling variants around critical (IPA […]), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #26,813 among 1,273 “C” headwords. Wiktionary lists 10 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for critical, with forms such as "ccritical", "cirtical", and "criitcal". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "of", "ii", "TO", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, 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 critical, spelled C-R-I-T-I-C-A-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    sehr wichtig, essentiell, bedenklich, ausschlaggebend, erheblich
  2. 2
    aus Kritik bestehend, Kritik beinhaltend, Kritik übend (eine Sache, zum Beispiel Buch- oder Film-Kritik)
  3. 3
    Varianten oder Verbesserungen enthaltend (ein Buch)
  4. 4
    dazu neigend Fehler zu finden, zu kritisieren; eher amateurhafte, subjektive Kritik übend; stets negativ konnotiert (→ tadelsüchtig)
  5. 5
    sich mit Kritik befassend oder darin ausgebildet sein (→ fachmännische, objektive Beurteilung)
  6. 6
    der Punkt ab dem sich die Situation verändert; hinsichtlich des Ergebnisses festlegt
  7. 7
    unabdingbare, unentbehrliche Sache, Faktor, Zutat
  8. 8
    bedenklich gefährlich; labil, angespannt (politische Situation)
  9. 9
    hinreichend Masse enthaltend, die kritische Masse erreichend, im kritischen Temperaturbereich befindlich
  10. 10
    im instabilen (kritischen) Zustand befindlich; mit schlechter Prognose befindlich (Krankheitsverlauf)

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. It's critical that you deliver this on time.
  2. My teacher is very critical, i.e. he always finds every single mistake of me.

Synonyms

importantessentialcrucialvitalanalyticjudgingcensoriouscarpingfaultfindingcavilingcaptiousdiscerningdecisivesignificantindispensableessentialvitaldangeroustightunstablelabile

Antonyms

unimportanttrivialminorof no consequenceuncriticalpraisingcomplimentarylaudatoryeulogistic

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ccritical
  • cirtical
  • criitcal
  • critcial
  • critiacl
  • criticall
  • criticcal
  • criticla
  • crittical
  • crritical
  • crtiical
  • rcitical

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of critical - 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.

ccritical1cirtical2criitcal2critcial2critiacl2criticall1criticcal1criticla2
Edit distance from "critical"

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 "critical"?
"critical" is spelled C-R-I-T-I-C-A-L. The IPA pronunciation is […].
What does "critical" mean?
As an adjective, "critical" means: sehr wichtig, essentiell, bedenklich, ausschlaggebend, erheblich
What words are commonly confused with "critical"?
"critical" is commonly confused with "of", "ii", "TO". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "critical"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "critical" is […]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "critical" come from?
"critical" 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 "critical", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

complete#26,811Coesfeld#26,810Classics#26,808displays#26,825

Similar misspelling depth

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

Bulgaren12 variantsblamiert12 variantsBaltikum12 variantserreichst12 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list