crecíanvscrecidasConfusable pair

Quick tell: crecían is a verb, crecidas is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“crecían” is a verb and “crecidas” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,081
“crecían” frequency rank
#38,029
“crecidas” frequency rank
82110
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crecían crecidas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito imperfecto de indicativo de crecer. Forma del femenino plural de crecido, participio de crecer.

Where the eye mixes crecían and crecidas

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. crecían runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against crecidas's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
crecían
8 ch
crecidas

Why the eye confuses crecían with crecidas

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crecían is [kɾeˈsiãn] while crecidas is [kɾeˈsið̞as]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82110, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crecían is recorded at frequency rank #44,081, classified as averb, pronounced [kɾeˈsiãn]. crecidas is at rank #38,029, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [kɾeˈsið̞as].

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 82110, this pair ranks #9,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crecían vs crecidas

Shared letters: acer. Private to "crecían": . Private to "crecidas": dis.

"crecían" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "crecidas" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crecidasccrecidas · cercidas · crceidas · creccidas · crecdias · creciads · crecidass · creciddas

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crecían" and "crecidas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crecían" is a verb and "crecidas" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "crecían" vs "crecidas" - which ranks higher?
"crecidas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,029 in our Spanish list, against #44,081 for "crecían". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "crecían" and "crecidas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "crecían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crecidas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,590 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crecían" and "crecidas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "caerían vs crecían". 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 #9,590 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