crushvscruzWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,279
“crush” frequency rank
#1,606
“cruz” frequency rank
25885
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crush cruz
Definition interesse em alguém, atração física por outra pessoa, possível ou platônica 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 spellings diverge

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

5 ch
crush
4 ch
cruz

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

crush and cruz are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crush is recorded at frequency rank #24,279, classified as anoun. 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 25885, this pair ranks #43,355 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crush vs cruz

Shared letters: cru. Private to "crush": hs. Private to "cruz": z.

"crush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "cruz" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crushccrush · crrush · crsuh · cruhs · crushh · crussh · cursh · rcush
  • cruzccruz · crruz · cruzz · crzu · curz · rcuz

Frequency comparison

crush#24,279
cruz#1,606

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crush" and "cruz" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "crush" or "cruz"?
"cruz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,606 in our Portuguese list, against #24,279 for "crush". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering crush vs cruz

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crush” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list