críanvscrimenWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#30,409
“crían” frequency rank
#1,807
“crimen” frequency rank
32216
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crían crimen
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de criar o de criarse. Acción o negligencia que agravia el bienestar público o la moral o los intereses del estado y que esta legalmente prohibido.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crían and crimen apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
crían
6 ch
crimen

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crían is [ˈkɾiãn] while crimen is [ˈkɾimẽn]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32216, 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]. crimen is at rank #1,807, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɾimẽn].

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 32216, this pair ranks #203,151 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crían vs crimen

Shared letters: cnr. Private to "crían": . Private to "crimen": eim.

"crían" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "crimen" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crimenccrimen · cirmen · criemn · crimenn · crimmen · crimne · crmien · crrimen

Frequency comparison

crían#30,409
crimen#1,807

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crían" and "crimen" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crían" is a verb and "crimen" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crían" or "crimen"?
"crimen" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,807 in our Spanish list, against #30,409 for "crían". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering crían vs crimen

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “crían”; for a noun, it's “crimen”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crían” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list