credovscrespoTell them apart

Quick tell: credo is a intj, crespo is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“credo” is an intj and “crespo” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,005
“credo” frequency rank
#18,014
“crespo” frequency rank
25019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature credo crespo
Definition expressa espanto de superfície áspera; rugoso, áspero

Where the eye mixes credo and crespo

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

5 ch
credo
6 ch
crespo

Why the eye confuses credo with crespo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: credo is /ˈkɾɛ.du/ while crespo is /ˈkɾeʃ.pu/. 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 (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

credo is recorded at frequency rank #7,005, classified as anintj, pronounced /ˈkɾɛ.du/. crespo is at rank #18,014, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɾeʃ.pu/.

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 25019, this pair ranks #44,394 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of credo vs crespo

Shared letters: ceor. Private to "credo": d. Private to "crespo": ps.

"credo" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "crespo" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • credo ← ccredo · cerdo · crdeo · creddo · creod · crredo · rcedo
  • crespo ← ccrespo · cerspo · crepso · cresop · cresppo · cresspo · crrespo · crsepo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "credo" for "crespo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "credo" is an intj and "crespo" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "credo" or "crespo"?
"credo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,005 in our Portuguese list, against #18,014 for "crespo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "credo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crespo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,394 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "credo" and "crespo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "creep vs crespo". 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 #44,394 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