citanvscríanConfusable pair

Which to use

“citan” and “crían” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,308
“citan” frequency rank
#30,409
“crían” frequency rank
45717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature citan crían
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de citar o de citarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de criar o de criarse.

Where the eye mixes citan and crían

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
citan
5 ch
crían

Visual trap between citan and crían

A purely visual mix-up. citan ([ˈsit̪ãn]) and crían ([ˈkɾiãn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

citan is recorded at frequency rank #15,308, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈsit̪ãn]. crían is at rank #30,409, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɾiãn].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 45717, this pair ranks #129,822 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of citan vs crían

Shared letters: acn. Private to "citan": it. Private to "crían": .

"citan" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "crían" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • citanccitan · ciatn · citann · cittan · ctian · ictan · sitan

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "citan" for "crían" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈsit̪ãn] versus [ˈkɾiãn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "citan" vs "crían" - which ranks higher?
"citan" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,308 in our Spanish list, against #30,409 for "crían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "citan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crían" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,822 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "citan" and "crían" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coin vs crían". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #129,822 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list