cárievscriTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,971
“cárie” frequency rank
#28,523
“cri” frequency rank
69494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cárie cri
Definition ulceração nos dentes e ossos, que os destrói progressivamente povo indígena da América do Norte, que habitava desde as montanhas Rochosas até o oceano Atlântico, tanto nos Estados Unidos da América quanto no Canadá

Where the eye mixes cárie and cri

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cárie runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against cri's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
cárie
3 ch
cri

Visual trap between cárie and cri

A purely visual mix-up. cárie (/ˈka.ɾji/) and cri (/ˈkɾi/) 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 69494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cárie is recorded at frequency rank #40,971, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈka.ɾji/. cri is at rank #28,523, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾi/.

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 69494, this pair ranks #3,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cárie vs cri

Shared letters: cir. Private to "cárie": eá. Private to "cri": -.

"cárie" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "cri" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cárie" and "cri" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈka.ɾji/ versus /ˈkɾi/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cárie" vs "cri" - which ranks higher?
"cri" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,523 in our Portuguese list, against #40,971 for "cárie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cárie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cri" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,938 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cárie" and "cri" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cárie vs carpet". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #3,938 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