criadovscursadoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,433
“criado” frequency rank
#32,599
“cursado” frequency rank
42032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criado cursado
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. Participio de cursar.

Where the eye mixes criado and cursado

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. criado runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against cursado's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
criado
7 ch
cursado

Look-alike desk: criado vs cursado

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: criado is [ˈkɾjað̞o] while cursado is [kuɾˈsað̞o]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42032, 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]. cursado is at rank #32,599, tagged as averb, pronounced [kuɾˈsað̞o].

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 42032, this pair ranks #150,464 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of criado vs cursado

Shared letters: acdor. Private to "criado": i. Private to "cursado": su.

"criado" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "cursado" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criado ← ccriado · cirado · craido · criaddo · criaod · cridao · crriado · rciado
  • cursado ← ccursado · crusado · curasdo · currsado · cursaddo · cursaod · cursdao · curssado

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "criado" and "cursado" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "criado" is a noun and "cursado" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "criado" or "cursado"?
"criado" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,433 in our Spanish list, against #32,599 for "cursado". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "cursado" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #150,464 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criado" and "cursado" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cursaba vs cursado". 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 #150,464 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