criticanvscríticasWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#8,362
“critican” frequency rank
#2,443
“críticas” frequency rank
10805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature critican críticas
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de criticar. Forma del femenino plural de crítico.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
critican
8 ch
críticas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: critican is [kɾiˈt̪ikãn] while críticas is [ˈkɾit̪ikas]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

critican is recorded at frequency rank #8,362, classified as averb, pronounced [kɾiˈt̪ikãn]. críticas is at rank #2,443, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈkɾit̪ikas].

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 10805, this pair ranks #297,311 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of critican vs críticas

Shared letters: acirt. Private to "critican": n. Private to "críticas": .

"critican" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "críticas" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequency comparison

critican#8,362
críticas#2,443

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "critican" and "críticas" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "critican" is a verb and "críticas" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "critican" or "críticas"?
"críticas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,443 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 critican vs críticas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “critican”; for an adjective, it's “críticas”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “critican” 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