cincovscinzaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#373
“cinco” frequency rank
#5,392
“cinza” frequency rank
5765
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cinco cinza
Definition número equivalente a quatro mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha cinco elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 5 (algarismos arábicos) ou V (algarismos romanos) cuja cor é o cinza²

Where the eye mixes cinco and cinza

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
cinco
5 ch
cinza

Why the eye confuses cinco with cinza

A purely visual mix-up. cinco (/ˈsĩ.ku/) and cinza ([ˈsĩŋza], plural: [ˈsĩŋzas]) 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 5765, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cinco is recorded at frequency rank #373, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsĩ.ku/. cinza is at rank #5,392, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈsĩŋza], plural: [ˈsĩŋzas].

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 5765, this pair ranks #68,791 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cinco vs cinza

Shared letters: cin. Private to "cinco": o. Private to "cinza": az.

"cinco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "cinza" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cincoccinco · cicno · cincco · cinnco · cinoc · cnico · icnco
  • cinzaccinza · cinaz · cinnza · cinzza · cizna · cniza · icnza

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cinco" and "cinza" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈsĩ.ku/ versus [ˈsĩŋza], plural: [ˈsĩŋzas]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "cinco" or "cinza" show up more?
"cinco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #373 in our Portuguese list, against #5,392 for "cinza". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "cinco" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cinza" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #68,791 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cinco" and "cinza" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cinza vs conca". 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 #68,791 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