criadovscriadosTell them apart

Quick tell: criado is a noun, criados is a participle, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“criado” is a noun and “criados” is a participle - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,433
“criado” frequency rank
#17,655
“criados” frequency rank
27088
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criado criados
Definition Persona que sirve a otra, o a una familia, como medio de subsistencia. Por lo general se trata de gente humilde, sin estudios, que realiza labores domésticas. Forma del plural de criado, participio de criar o de criarse.

Where the eye mixes criado and criados

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
criado
7 ch
criados

Look-alike desk: criado vs criados

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: criado is [ˈkɾjað̞o] while criados is [ˈkɾjað̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “criado” sits inside “criados”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs participle), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

criado is recorded at frequency rank #9,433, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɾjað̞o]. criados is at rank #17,655, tagged as aparticiple, pronounced [ˈkɾjað̞os].

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 27088, this pair ranks #228,510 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of criado vs criados

Shared letters: acdior. Private to "criado": -. Private to "criados": s.

"criado" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "criados" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criadoccriado · cirado · craido · criaddo · criaod · cridao · crriado · rciado
  • criadosccriados · cirados · craidos · criaddos · criadoss · criadso · criaods · cridaos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "criado" for "criados" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "criado" is a noun and "criados" a participle, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "criado" or "criados" show up more?
"criado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,433 in our Spanish list, against #17,655 for "criados". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "criado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criados" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,510 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criado" and "criados" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "criador vs criados". 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 #228,510 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