One eleventh is a quantity: 1/11, one of the eleven equal parts a whole is split into. The eleventh is a position: the place numbered 11 in a list. English uses the same word for both, so the small words around it do the work: “an eleventh of the pie” is a fraction, and “the eleventh floor” is a place. That is why 3/11 is “three elevenths” and 11th place is “the eleventh.”
| You want to say | You say | Example |
|---|---|---|
| A quantity, 1/11 | one eleventh, an eleventh, the eleventh part | I ate an eleventh of the pie |
| Several of those parts, 3/11 | three elevenths | Three elevenths of the tank are left |
| A position, number 11 | the eleventh | She finished in eleventh place |
| A position, number 12 | the twelfth | He lives on the twelfth floor |
The table separates two different questions: how many parts there are, and what place you are in. To read fractions in general, with numerators and signs, there is reading and writing fractions; this page is only about the names of the denominators.
The names from 1/2 to 1/12, and the round ones
The denominator is read as an ordinal number, and it is made plural when the numerator is not 1: one fifth, two fifths. Two denominators are special. A denominator of 2 is read half or halves, never “seconds,” and a denominator of 4 may be read quarter or quarters as well as fourth or fourths. All of this follows the English Wikipedia article on fractions (consulted October 17, 2026).
| Fraction | Quantity | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1/2 | one half | second |
| 1/3 | one third | third |
| 1/4 | one quarter or one fourth | fourth |
| 1/5 | one fifth | fifth |
| 1/8 | one eighth | eighth |
| 1/10 | one tenth | tenth |
| 1/11 | one eleventh | eleventh |
| 1/12 | one twelfth | twelfth |
| 1/20 | one twentieth | twentieth |
| 1/100 | one hundredth | hundredth |
| 1/1000 | one thousandth | thousandth |
Notice two things. From 1/3 on, the word for the quantity and the word for the position are the same: a fifth and the fifth floor. The only gaps are at 2 and 4, where half and quarter name the quantity and second names the place. A “second part” is not 1/2: say half.
When an ordinal counts parts
An ordinal also names a quantity when it comes with the word part: “the twentieth part” is 1/20 and “the twelfth part” is 1/12. This sounds more formal than “one twentieth,” but it is correct. In the other direction, nothing changes: the same word twelfth names a place when it follows the and a noun that is being counted.
How to read a fraction with a denominator over 10
Say the numerator as a number first and then the denominator as a plural ordinal: 3/11 is “three elevenths” and 7/12 is “seven twelfths.” With a numerator of 1, the denominator is singular, and the 1 can be replaced by a or an: “an eleventh.” If you cannot recall the name of a denominator, “three over eleven” reads the same fraction without changing its value.
Worked example: adding three elevenths and two elevenths
A trail is one unit long. You have already walked three elevenths and you walk another two elevenths. How much have you covered?
- Write the fractions. Three elevenths is 3/11 and two elevenths is 2/11.
- Check the denominator. Both are elevenths: the parts are the same size and can be added without changing anything.
- Add the numerators. 3 + 2 = 5, and the denominator stays 11.
- Read the result. 5/11 is said “five elevenths.”
Result: five elevenths, 5/11.
Check: half of 11 parts would be 5.5, so 5 parts are a little under half the trail. For other sums with different denominators there is the add fractions calculator.
The name does not change with the size of the amount. 14/11 is read “fourteen elevenths” and is worth more than one whole; as a mixed number it is 1 3/11, “one and three elevenths.” For that conversion, use the improper fraction to mixed number tool.
A third or the third
Both point at the number 3, but they are not the same. “A third” (or “one third”) is the fraction 1/3 and can stand alone: “I have a third left.” “The third” is an ordinal and goes with the thing being counted: “the third chapter.” In a math problem, the first form is shorter and clearer; “the third part” is a more formal way to say 1/3.
What the name does not say: the whole
A fraction name does not say what the part is a part of. An eleventh of a gallon and an eleventh of a mile are different quantities, and both are 1/11 of their unit. What always holds is that the parts are equal: the guide to fractions of the same whole covers that condition. Whether a fraction like 7/12 is proper or improper is explained in the guide to types of fractions.
Unit-fraction names have one curious use: the Egyptian fractions tool breaks a fraction into a sum of different unit fractions, such as one half plus one fourth.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Fraction: denominators of English fractions are generally expressed as ordinal numbers, pluralized when the numerator is not 1; the numerator is often omitted when it is 1; a denominator of 2 is read half or halves, and a denominator of 4 may be read quarter or fourth; any fraction can also be read with “over” (consulted October 17, 2026).