cuartelvscuartosTell them apart

Which to use

“cuartel” and “cuartos” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,709
“cuartel” frequency rank
#4,695
“cuartos” frequency rank
10404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cuartel cuartos
Definition Lugar e instalaciones en los que se asienta un regimiento militar, durante la campaña o fuera de ésta. 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 cuartel and cuartos

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

7 ch
cuartel
7 ch
cuartos

Look-alike desk: cuartel vs cuartos

A purely visual mix-up. cuartel ([kwaɾˈt̪el]) and cuartos ([ˈkwaɾt̪os]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cuartel is recorded at frequency rank #5,709, classified as anoun, pronounced [kwaɾˈt̪el]. 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 10404, this pair ranks #298,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cuartel vs cuartos

Shared letters: acrtu. Private to "cuartel": el. Private to "cuartos": os.

"cuartel" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "cuartos" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cuartelcaurtel · ccuartel · cuaretl · cuarrtel · cuartell · cuartle · cuarttel · cuatrel
  • cuartoscaurtos · ccuartos · cuarots · cuarrtos · cuartoss · cuartso · cuarttos · curatos

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cuartel" for "cuartos" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([kwaɾˈt̪el] versus [ˈkwaɾt̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "cuartel" vs "cuartos" - which ranks higher?
"cuartos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,695 in our Spanish list, against #5,709 for "cuartel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cuartel" 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 #298,732 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cuartel" 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 #298,732 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