crecervscrecióConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,766
“crecer” frequency rank
#5,939
“creció” frequency rank
8705
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crecer creció
Definition De una persona o animal: hacerse más grande, sobre todo en estatura. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de crecer.

Where the eye mixes crecer and creció

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
crecer
6 ch
creció

Why the eye confuses crecer with creció

A purely visual mix-up. crecer ([kɾeˈseɾ]) and creció ([kɾeˈsjo]) 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 8705, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crecer is recorded at frequency rank #2,766, classified as averb, pronounced [kɾeˈseɾ]. creció is at rank #5,939, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɾeˈsjo].

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 8705, this pair ranks #304,207 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of crecer vs creció

Shared letters: cer. Private to "crecer": -. Private to "creció": .

"crecer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "creció" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crecerccrecer · cercer · crceer · creccer · crecerr · crecre · creecr · creser

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "crecer" and "creció" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kɾeˈseɾ] versus [kɾeˈsjo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "crecer" or "creció" show up more?
"crecer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,766 in our Spanish list, against #5,939 for "creció". 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 "crecer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "creció" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,207 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crecer" and "creció" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creció vs cretino". 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 #304,207 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