criticarvscriticaronTell them apart

Which to use

“criticar” and “criticaron” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,492
“criticar” frequency rank
#24,449
“criticaron” frequency rank
28941
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criticar criticaron
Definition Juzgar o valorar una cosa atendiendo a un conjunto de reglas establecidas. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de criticar.

Where the eye mixes criticar and criticaron

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. criticar runs 8 letters (CCVCVCVC) against criticaron's 10 (CCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
criticar
10 ch
criticaron

Visual trap between criticar and criticaron

A purely visual mix-up. criticar ([kɾit̪iˈkaɾ]) and criticaron ([kɾit̪iˈkaɾõn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “criticar” sits inside “criticaron”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

criticar is recorded at frequency rank #4,492, classified as averb, pronounced [kɾit̪iˈkaɾ]. criticaron is at rank #24,449, tagged as averb, pronounced [kɾit̪iˈkaɾõn].

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 28941, this pair ranks #219,481 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of criticar vs criticaron

Shared letters: acirt. Private to "criticar": -. Private to "criticaron": no.

"criticar" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC  ·  "criticaron" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criticar ← ccriticar · cirticar · criitcar · critciar · critiacr · criticarr · criticcar · criticra
  • criticaron ← ccriticaron · cirticaron · criitcaron · critciaron · critiacron · criticaorn · criticarno · criticaronn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "criticar" and "criticaron" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([kɾit̪iˈkaɾ] versus [kɾit̪iˈkaɾõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "criticar" or "criticaron" show up more?
"criticar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,492 in our Spanish list, against #24,449 for "criticaron". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "criticar" and "criticaron" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "criticar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criticaron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #219,481 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criticar" and "criticaron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "criticamos vs criticaron". 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 #219,481 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