criticadovscríticoConfusable pair

Quick tell: criticado is a verb, crítico is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“criticado” is a verb and “crítico” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,304
“criticado” frequency rank
#2,820
“crítico” frequency rank
13124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criticado crítico
Definition Participio de criticar. Que pertenece o concierne a la crítica (juicio o comentario sobre algo).

Where the eye mixes criticado and crítico

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. criticado runs 9 letters (CCVCVCVCV) against crítico's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
criticado
7 ch
crítico

Visual trap between criticado and crítico

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: criticado is [kɾit̪iˈkað̞o] while crítico is [ˈkɾit̪iko]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

criticado is recorded at frequency rank #10,304, classified as averb, pronounced [kɾit̪iˈkað̞o]. crítico is at rank #2,820, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾit̪iko].

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 13124, this pair ranks #289,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of criticado vs crítico

Shared letters: ciort. Private to "criticado": ad. Private to "crítico": í.

"criticado" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCVCV  ·  "crítico" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criticadoccriticado · cirticado · criitcado · critciado · critiacdo · criticaddo · criticaod · criticcado

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "criticado" and "crítico" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "criticado" is a verb and "crítico" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "criticado" or "crítico"?
"crítico" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,820 in our Spanish list, against #10,304 for "criticado". 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 "criticado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crítico" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #289,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criticado" and "crítico" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "criticado vs criticamos". 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 #289,043 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