criadavscriançaWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,566
“criada” frequency rank
#597
“criança” frequency rank
2163
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature criada criança
Definition feminino de criado. ser humano que se começa a criar

Where the eye mixes criada and criança

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. criada runs 6 letters (CCVVCV) against criança's 7 (CCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
criada
7 ch
criança

Look-alike desk: criada vs criança

A purely visual mix-up. criada (/kɾi.ˈa.dɐ/) and criança (/kɾi.ɐ̃.ˈsɐ/) 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 2163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

criada is recorded at frequency rank #1,566, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɾi.ˈa.dɐ/. criança is at rank #597, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɾi.ɐ̃.ˈsɐ/.

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 2163, this pair ranks #73,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of criada vs criança

Shared letters: acir. Private to "criada": d. Private to "criança": nç.

"criada" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "criança" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • criada ← ccriada · cirada · craida · criaad · criadda · cridaa · crriada · rciada

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "criada" and "criança" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɾi.ˈa.dɐ/ versus /kɾi.ɐ̃.ˈsɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "criada" or "criança"?
"criança" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #597 in our Portuguese list, against #1,566 for "criada". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "criada" and "criança" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "criada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "criança" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,318 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "criada" and "criança" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "criança vs criançada". 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 #73,318 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