críanvscriandoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#30,409
“crían” frequency rank
#34,035
“criando” frequency rank
64444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crían criando
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de criar o de criarse. Gerundio de criar.

Where the eye mixes crían and criando

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

5 ch
crían
7 ch
criando

Visual trap between crían and criando

A purely visual mix-up. crían ([ˈkɾiãn]) and criando ([ˈkɾjãn̪d̪o]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crían is recorded at frequency rank #30,409, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkɾiãn]. criando is at rank #34,035, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkɾjãn̪d̪o].

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 64444, this pair ranks #45,575 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crían vs criando

Shared letters: acnr. Private to "crían": í. Private to "criando": dio.

"crían" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "criando" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criandoccriando · cirando · craindo · criadno · crianddo · crianndo · crianod · crinado

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "crían" for "criando" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkɾiãn] versus [ˈkɾjãn̪d̪o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crían" or "criando"?
"crían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,409 in our Spanish list, against #34,035 for "criando". 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 "crían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criando" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,575 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crían" and "criando" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "criador vs criando". 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 #45,575 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