quartovsquintoConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#589
“quarto” frequency rank
#4,587
“quinto” frequency rank
5176
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quarto quinto
Definition refere-se àquele que ocupa a posição quaternária em uma série; o que vem depois do terceiro ordem de um elemento em um conjunto, que ocupe a posição equivalente ao número cinco.

Where the eye mixes quarto and quinto

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
quarto
6 ch
quinto

Visual trap between quarto and quinto

A purely visual mix-up. quarto (/ˈkwaɾ.tu/) and quinto (/ˈkĩ.tu/) 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 5176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quarto is recorded at frequency rank #589, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈkwaɾ.tu/. quinto is at rank #4,587, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈkĩ.tu/.

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 5176, this pair ranks #69,519 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quarto vs quinto

Shared letters: oqtu. Private to "quarto": ar. Private to "quinto": in.

"quarto" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "quinto" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quartoqaurto · qquarto · quarot · quarrto · quartto · qurato · uqarto
  • quintoqiunto · qquinto · quinnto · quinot · quintto · quitno · qunito · uqinto

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quarto" for "quinto" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkwaɾ.tu/ versus /ˈkĩ.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "quarto" vs "quinto" - which ranks higher?
"quarto" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #589 in our Portuguese list, against #4,587 for "quinto". 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 "quarto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quinto" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #69,519 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quarto" and "quinto" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quinto vs quintos". 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 #69,519 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