críticavscriticanWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,405
“crítica” frequency rank
#8,362
“critican” frequency rank
9767
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crítica critican
Definition Comentario, opinión o juicio sobre alguien o algo, en particular de manera pública y sobre obras artísticas, literarias o del espectáculo. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de criticar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crítica and critican apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
crítica
8 ch
critican

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: crítica is [ˈkɾit̪ika] while critican is [kɾiˈt̪ikãn]. 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 9767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crítica is recorded at frequency rank #1,405, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈkɾit̪ika]. critican is at rank #8,362, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɾiˈt̪ikãn].

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 9767, this pair ranks #300,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of crítica vs critican

Shared letters: acirt. Private to "crítica": í. Private to "critican": n.

"crítica" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "critican" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criticanccritican · cirtican · criitcan · critcian · critiacn · criticann · criticcan · criticna

Frequency comparison

crítica#1,405
critican#8,362

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crítica" and "critican" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "crítica" is a noun and "critican" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "crítica" or "critican"?
"crítica" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,405 in our Spanish list, against #8,362 for "critican". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crítica vs critican

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “crítica”; for a verb, it's “critican”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crítica” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list