quartelvsquarterTell them apart

Quick tell: quartel is a noun, quarter is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#6,342
“quartel” frequency rank
#45,042
“quarter” frequency rank
51384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quartel quarter
Definition conjunto de instalações onde se alojam tropas e se guarda o respectivo equipamento quarto; quarta parte

Where the eye mixes quartel and quarter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
quartel
7 ch
quarter

Why the eye confuses quartel with quarter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quartel is /kwɐɾ.ˈtɛɫ/ while quarter is /ˈkwɔːtə/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “quartel” becomes r in “quarter”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quartel is recorded at frequency rank #6,342, classified as anoun, pronounced /kwɐɾ.ˈtɛɫ/. quarter is at rank #45,042, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkwɔːtə/.

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 51384, this pair ranks #13,656 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of quartel vs quarter

Shared letters: aeqrtu. Private to "quartel": l. Private to "quarter": -.

"quartel" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "quarter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quartelqaurtel · qquartel · quaretl · quarrtel · quartell · quartle · quarttel · quatrel
  • quarterqaurter · qquarter · quaretr · quarrter · quarterr · quartre · quartter · quatrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quartel" and "quarter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quartel" is a noun and "quarter" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "quartel" or "quarter"?
"quartel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,342 in our Portuguese list, against #45,042 for "quarter". 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 "quartel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quarter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #13,656 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quartel" and "quarter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quarter vs quartzo". 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 #13,656 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