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 eye mixes crítica and critican
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. crítica runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against critican's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses crítica with critican
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
- critican ← ccritican · cirtican · criitcan · critcian · critiacn · criticann · criticcan · criticna
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crítica" for "critican" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crítica" vs "critican" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "crítica" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "critican" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #300,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crítica" and "critican" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "critical vs critican". 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 #300,891 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.