cretino
[kɾeˈt̪ino]
The verdict
“cretino” is a moderately-common Spanish word, ranked #45,233 in Spanish word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #45,233
- frequency rank, Spanish
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 6
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Que padece cretinismo
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | cretino |
| Language | Spanish |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | [kɾeˈt̪ino] |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #45,233 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 6 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “cretino” sits in Spanish frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Spanish entry for cretino is 7 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [kɾeˈt̪ino]. Corpus data places it at rank #45,233 in overall Spanish word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for cretino, with forms such as "ccretino", "certino", and "creitno". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "crítico", "creció", "creído", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is cretino, spelled C-R-E-T-I-N-O.
Definition
- 1Que padece cretinismo
- 2Por extensión, falto de inteligencia o entendimiento
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ccretino,certino,creitno,cretinno,cretion,cretnio,crettino,crretino,crteino,rcetino
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of cretino - 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.
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 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "cretino"?
What does "cretino" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "cretino"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “cretino”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Spanish spelling is C-R-E-T-I-N-O - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as [kɾeˈt̪ino] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “crítico” - see the side-by-side comparison. cretino vs crítico
- Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.