cri vs cru, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,523
“cri” frequency rank: #14,555
“cru” frequency rank: 43078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cri	cru
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	que não foi cozido ou não foi cozido o suficiente

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cri and cru apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

cri

3 ch

cru

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cri is /ˈkɾi/ while cru is /ˈkɾu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “cri” becomes u in “cru”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43078, 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/. cru is at rank #14,555, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɾu/.

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 43078, this pair ranks #22,598 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cri vs cru

Shared letters: cr. Private to "cri": i. Private to "cru": u.

"cri" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "cru" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequency comparison

cri#28,523

cru#14,555

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

"cru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,555 in our Portuguese list, against #28,523 for "cri". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cri vs cru

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cri”; for an adjective, it's “cru”.
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