cerdavscriaConfusable pair

Quick tell: cerda is a adjective, cria is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cerda” is an adjective and “cria” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,775
“cerda” frequency rank
#2,414
“cria” frequency rank
50189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cerda cria
Definition que é porca, suja animal de mama

Where the eye mixes cerda and cria

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cerda
4 ch
cria

Look-alike desk: cerda vs cria

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cerda is /ˈseɾ.dɐ/ while cria is /ˈkɾi.ɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cerda is recorded at frequency rank #47,775, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈseɾ.dɐ/. cria is at rank #2,414, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾi.ɐ/.

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 50189, this pair ranks #14,795 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cerda vs cria

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cerda": de. Private to "cria": i.

"cerda" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cria" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cerdaccerda · cedra · cerad · cerdda · cerrda · creda · ecrda
  • criaccria · cira · crai · crria · rcia

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cerda" for "cria" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cerda" is an adjective and "cria" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cerda" or "cria" show up more?
"cria" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,414 in our Portuguese list, against #47,775 for "cerda". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cerda" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cria" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #14,795 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cerda" and "cria" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerda vs Ceres". 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 #14,795 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