quedóvsquejóConfusable pair

Which to use

“quedó” and “quejó” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,101
“quedó” frequency rank
#20,788
“quejó” frequency rank
21889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quedó quejó
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de quedar o de quedarse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de quejar.

Where the eye mixes quedó and quejó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. quedó and quejó follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
quedó
5 ch
quejó

Why the eye confuses quedó with quejó

A purely visual mix-up. quedó ([keˈð̞o]) and quejó ([keˈxo]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - d in “quedó” becomes j in “quejó”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quedó is recorded at frequency rank #1,101, classified as averb, pronounced [keˈð̞o]. quejó is at rank #20,788, tagged as averb, pronounced [keˈxo].

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 21889, this pair ranks #252,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quedó vs quejó

Shared letters: equó. Private to "quedó": d. Private to "quejó": j.

"quedó" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "quejó" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quedó" and "quejó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([keˈð̞o] versus [keˈxo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quedó" or "quejó"?
"quedó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,101 in our Spanish list, against #20,788 for "quejó". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "quedó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quejó" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quedó" and "quejó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quejó vs Quero". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #252,871 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list