quinzevsquinzenaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: quinze is a num, quinzena is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quinze” is a num and “quinzena” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,949
“quinze” frequency rank
#34,001
“quinzena” frequency rank
38950
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quinze quinzena
Definition número equivalente a quatorze mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha quinze elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 15 (algarismos arábicos) ou XV (algarismos romanos) período de tempo correspondente a 15 dias

Where the eye mixes quinze and quinzena

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

6 ch
quinze
8 ch
quinzena

Look-alike desk: quinze vs quinzena

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quinze is /ˈkĩ.zɨ/ while quinzena is /kĩ.ˈze.nɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “quinze” sits inside “quinzena”, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38950, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quinze is recorded at frequency rank #4,949, classified as anum, pronounced /ˈkĩ.zɨ/. quinzena is at rank #34,001, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kĩ.ˈze.nɐ/.

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 38950, this pair ranks #27,421 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quinze vs quinzena

Shared letters: einquz. Private to "quinze": -. Private to "quinzena": a.

"quinze" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "quinzena" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quinzeqiunze · qquinze · quinez · quinnze · quinzze · quizne · qunize · uqinze
  • quinzenaqiunzena · qquinzena · quinezna · quinnzena · quinzean · quinzenna · quinznea · quinzzena

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quinze" and "quinzena" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quinze" is a num and "quinzena" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "quinze" or "quinzena" show up more?
"quinze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,949 in our Portuguese list, against #34,001 for "quinzena". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "quinze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quinzena" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,421 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quinze" and "quinzena" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quinzena vs quinzenal". 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 #27,421 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