quartervsquartzoWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,042
“quarter” frequency rank
#26,528
“quartzo” frequency rank
71570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quarter quartzo
Definition quarto; quarta parte o mineral mais abundante do planeta, representando 12% da crosta terrestre; é formado basicamente por sílica (dióxido de silício SiO₂), que forma uma estrutura cristalina trigonal composta por tetraedros; é largamente utilizado na indústria para a fabricação dos mais diversos produtos como, vidros, abrasivos, fibras óticas, componentes eletrônicos, instrumentos óticos, cerâmicas, joias e ornamentos

Where the eye mixes quarter and quartzo

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

7 ch
quarter
7 ch
quartzo

Why the eye confuses quarter with quartzo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quarter is /ˈkwɔːtə/ while quartzo is /ˈkwaɾ.tzu/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quarter is recorded at frequency rank #45,042, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkwɔːtə/. quartzo is at rank #26,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkwaɾ.tzu/.

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 71570, this pair ranks #3,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of quarter vs quartzo

Shared letters: aqrtu. Private to "quarter": e. Private to "quartzo": oz.

"quarter" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "quartzo" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quarterqaurter · qquarter · quaretr · quarrter · quarterr · quartre · quartter · quatrer
  • quartzoqaurtzo · qquartzo · quarrtzo · quartoz · quarttzo · quartzzo · quarzto · quatrzo

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quarter" for "quartzo" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quarter" is an adjective and "quartzo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "quarter" vs "quartzo" - which ranks higher?
"quartzo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,528 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.

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 "quarter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quartzo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #3,302 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quarter" and "quartzo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quarter vs quarteto". 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 #3,302 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