cruel

//kɾu.ˈɛɫ// adj

Letters

5 characters

Frequency Rank

#5,617

in Portuguese word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

12

similar word pairs

cruel is anPortugueseadj. It means: que tem prazer em fazer mal Pronounced /kɾu.ˈɛɫ/. It ranks #5,617 in Portuguese word frequency. Often confused with cruz and crush.

Key facts for cruel
PropertyValue
Headwordcruel
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechAdj
IPA/kɾu.ˈɛɫ/
Letters5
Frequency rank#5,617
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs12
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of cruel in Portuguese word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for cruel is 5 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /kɾu.ˈɛɫ/. Corpus data places it at rank #5,617 in overall Portuguese word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for cruel, with forms such as "ccruel", "creul", and "crruel". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 12 confusable-pair relationships, "cruz", "crush", "cru", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct Portuguese form is cruel, spelled C-R-U-E-L, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    que tem prazer em fazer mal
  2. 2
    bárbaro; severo; pungente; doloroso; sanguinário; atroz; dilacerante; perverso

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: ccruel,creul,crruel,cruell,crule,curel,rcuel

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for cruel

Misspelling Variants of "cruel"

ccruel6creul5crruel6cruell6crule5curel5rcuel5
Misspelling Variants of "cruel"

Frequency rank: #5,617 in Portuguese

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "cruel"?
"cruel" is spelled C-R-U-E-L. The IPA pronunciation is /kɾu.ˈɛɫ/.
What does "cruel" mean?
As an adj, "cruel" means: que tem prazer em fazer mal
What words are commonly confused with "cruel"?
"cruel" is commonly confused with "cruz", "crush", "cru". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "cruel"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "cruel" is /kɾu.ˈɛɫ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "cruel" come from?
"cruel" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby Portuguese words

Other entries that begin with the letter C in our Portuguese index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.