caricaturavscriaturaTell them apart

Which to use

“caricatura” and “criatura” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,898
“caricatura” frequency rank
#5,400
“criatura” frequency rank
28298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature caricatura criatura
Definition desenho de uma pessoa, de um animal, de uma coisa ou de um fato, que exagera alguns aspectos com intenção cômica ou crítica um animal, especialmente não humano

Where the eye mixes caricatura and criatura

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

10 ch
caricatura
8 ch
criatura

Why the eye confuses caricatura with criatura

A purely visual mix-up. caricatura (/kɐ.ɾi.kɐ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/) and criatura (/kɾi.aˈtu.ɾɐ/ [kɾɪ.aˈtu.ɾɐ], AFI: /kɾjaˈtu.ɾɐ/ (coloquial)) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

caricatura is recorded at frequency rank #22,898, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɐ.ɾi.kɐ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/. criatura is at rank #5,400, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɾi.aˈtu.ɾɐ/ [kɾɪ.aˈtu.ɾɐ], AFI: /kɾjaˈtu.ɾɐ/ (coloquial).

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 28298, this pair ranks #40,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of caricatura vs criatura

Shared letters: acirtu. Private to "caricatura": -. Private to "criatura": -.

"caricatura" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV  ·  "criatura" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • caricatura ← acricatura · caircatura · carciatura · cariactura · caricatrua · caricattura · caricatuar · caricaturra
  • criatura ← ccriatura · ciratura · craitura · criatrua · criattura · criatuar · criaturra · criautra

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "caricatura" for "criatura" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɐ.ɾi.kɐ.ˈtu.ɾɐ/ versus /kɾi.aˈtu.ɾɐ/ [kɾɪ.aˈtu.ɾɐ], AFI: /kɾjaˈtu.ɾɐ/ (coloquial)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "caricatura" or "criatura"?
"criatura" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,400 in our Portuguese list, against #22,898 for "caricatura". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "caricatura" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criatura" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #40,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #40,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list