creevscurseTell them apart

Quick tell: cree is a adjective, curse is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cree” is an adjective and “curse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#842
“cree” frequency rank
#44,090
“curse” frequency rank
44932
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cree curse
Definition Perteneciente o relativo a una etnia amerindia, nativa de la región de los Grandes Lagos en Norteamérica, históricamente cazadores de la fauna subártica y secundariamente recolectores. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de cursar.

Where the eye mixes cree and curse

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

4 ch
cree
5 ch
curse

Visual trap between cree and curse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cree is [ˈkɾee] while curse is [ˈkuɾse]. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cree is recorded at frequency rank #842, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾee]. curse is at rank #44,090, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkuɾse].

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 44932, this pair ranks #134,283 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cree vs curse

Shared letters: cer. Private to "cree": -. Private to "curse": su.

"cree" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "curse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • creeccree · cere · cre · crree · rcee
  • curseccurse · cruse · curce · cures · currse · cursse · cusre · ucrse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cree" for "curse" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cree" is an adjective and "curse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cree" or "curse" show up more?
"cree" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #842 in our Spanish list, against #44,090 for "curse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cree" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "curse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,283 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cree" and "curse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "curse vs curt". 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 #134,283 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