cortosvscuartosTell them apart

Quick tell: cortos is a adjective, cuartos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,876
“cortos” frequency rank
#4,695
“cuartos” frequency rank
9571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cortos cuartos
Definition Forma del plural de corto. Miembros del cuerpo del animal robusto y fornido; y entre los pintores y escultores y los conocedores de caballos, miembros bien proporcionados.

Where the eye mixes cortos and cuartos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
cortos
7 ch
cuartos

Visual trap between cortos and cuartos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cortos is [ˈkoɾt̪os] while cuartos is [ˈkwaɾt̪os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cortos is recorded at frequency rank #4,876, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈkoɾt̪os]. cuartos is at rank #4,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkwaɾt̪os].

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 9571, this pair ranks #301,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cortos vs cuartos

Shared letters: corst. Private to "cortos": -. Private to "cuartos": au.

"cortos" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "cuartos" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cortosccortos · corots · corrtos · cortoss · cortso · corttos · cotros · crotos
  • cuartoscaurtos · ccuartos · cuarots · cuarrtos · cuartoss · cuartso · cuarttos · curatos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cortos" for "cuartos" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cortos" is an adjective and "cuartos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cortos" or "cuartos"?
"cuartos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,695 in our Spanish list, against #4,876 for "cortos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cortos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cuartos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cortos" and "cuartos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuadritos vs cuartos". 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 #301,528 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list