14 (fourteen ) is the natural number following 13 and preceding 15. In speech, the numbers 14 and 40 are often confused. When carefully enunciated, they differ in which syllable is stressed: 14 vs 40 . However, in dates such as 1492 or when contrasting numbers in the teens, such as 13, 14, 15, the stress shifts to the first syllable: 14 .