cri vs criar, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“cri” is a noun and “criar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,523
“cri” frequency rank: #686
“criar” frequency rank: 29209
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cri	criar
Definition	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	alimentar, sustentar, amamentar

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cri and criar apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

cri

5 ch

criar

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cri is /ˈkɾi/ while criar is /kɾi.ˈaɾ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “cri” sits inside “criar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cri is recorded at frequency rank #28,523, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾi/. 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 29209, this pair ranks #39,495 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cri vs criar

Shared letters: cir. Private to "cri": -. Private to "criar": a.

"cri" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "criar" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

criar ← ccriar · cirar · crair · criarr · crira · crriar · rciar

Frequency comparison

cri#28,523

criar#686

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cri" and "criar" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cri" is a noun and "criar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cri" or "criar"?

"criar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #686 in our Portuguese list, against #28,523 for "cri". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cri vs criar

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cri”; for a verb, it's “criar”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cri” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable