cinco vs cisto, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#373
“cinco” frequency rank: #39,054
“cisto” frequency rank: 39427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cinco	cisto
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)	saco fechado que tem uma membrana e divisão distintas do tecido circundante

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

cinco

5 ch

cisto

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: cinco is anadjective and cistoanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39427, 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/. cisto is at rank #39,054, tagged as anoun.

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 39427, this pair ranks #26,817 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cinco vs cisto

Shared letters: cio. Private to "cinco": n. Private to "cisto": st.

"cinco" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "cisto" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

cinco ← ccinco · cicno · cincco · cinnco · cinoc · cnico · icnco
cisto ← ccisto · cisot · cissto · cistto · citso · csito · icsto

Frequency comparison

cinco#373

cisto#39,054

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cinco" and "cisto" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cinco" is an adjective and "cisto" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "cinco" or "cisto"?

"cinco" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #373 in our Portuguese list, against #39,054 for "cisto". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cinco vs cisto

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “cinco”; for a noun, it's “cisto”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cinco” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable