Which to use
“cru” is an adjective and “cruz” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,555
- “cru” frequency rank
- #1,606
- “cruz” frequency rank
- 16161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cru | cruz |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | que não foi cozido ou não foi cozido o suficiente | símbolo formado por dois planos, normalmente linhas, um orientado horizontalmente e outro na vertical, cruzando-se e formando um ângulo de 90 graus; a linha é, por vezes, maior para baixo do cruzamento |
Where the eye mixes cru and cruz
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. cru runs 3 letters (CCV) against cruz's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: cru vs cruz
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cru is /ˈkɾu/ while cruz is /ˈkɾuʃ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cru” sits inside “cruz”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cru is recorded at frequency rank #14,555, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkɾu/. cruz is at rank #1,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɾuʃ/.
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 16161, this pair ranks #55,447 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cru vs cruz
Shared letters: cru. Private to "cru": -. Private to "cruz": z.
"cru" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "cruz" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- cruz ← ccruz · crruz · cruzz · crzu · curz · rcuz
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cru" and "cruz" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cru" or "cruz" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "cru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cruz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,447 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cru" and "cruz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chau vs cru". 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 #55,447 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.