cravarvscriarTell them apart

Which to use

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

#41,924
“cravar” frequency rank
#686
“criar” frequency rank
42610
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cravar criar
Definition enterrar alimentar, sustentar, amamentar

Where the eye mixes cravar and criar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. cravar runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against criar's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
cravar
5 ch
criar

Visual trap between cravar and criar

A purely visual mix-up. cravar (/kɾɐ.ˈvaɾ/) and criar (/kɾi.ˈaɾ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cravar is recorded at frequency rank #41,924, classified as averb, pronounced /kɾɐ.ˈvaɾ/. criar is at rank #686, tagged as averb, pronounced /kɾi.ˈaɾ/.

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 42610, this pair ranks #23,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cravar vs criar

Shared letters: acr. Private to "cravar": v. Private to "criar": i.

"cravar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "criar" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cravar ← carvar · ccravar · craavr · cravarr · cravra · cravvar · crravar · crvaar
  • criar ← ccriar · cirar · crair · criarr · crira · crriar · rciar

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cravar" for "criar" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/kɾɐ.ˈvaɾ/ versus /kɾi.ˈaɾ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "cravar" or "criar"?
"criar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #686 in our Portuguese list, against #41,924 for "cravar". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cravar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cravar" and "criar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "clamar vs cravar". 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 #23,141 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