crossvscrostaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,749
“cross” frequency rank
#23,280
“crosta” frequency rank
31029
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cross crosta
Definition cruz parte mais dura formada em volta de algo, geralmente mais mole no interior

Where the eye mixes cross and crosta

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cross
6 ch
crosta

Look-alike desk: cross vs crosta

A purely visual mix-up. cross (/kɹɒs/) and crosta (/ˈkɾos.tɐ/) 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 31029, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cross is recorded at frequency rank #7,749, classified as anoun, pronounced /kɹɒs/. crosta is at rank #23,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾos.tɐ/.

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 31029, this pair ranks #37,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cross vs crosta

Shared letters: cors. Private to "cross": -. Private to "crosta": at.

"cross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "crosta" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crossccross · corss · cros · crross · crsos · rcoss
  • crostaccrosta · corsta · crosat · crossta · crostta · crotsa · crrosta · crsota

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cross" and "crosta" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/kɹɒs/ versus /ˈkɾos.tɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cross" or "crosta" show up more?
"cross" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,749 in our Portuguese list, against #23,280 for "crosta". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cross" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crosta" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,186 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cross" and "crosta" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "copta vs crosta". 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 #37,186 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