quejadovsqueridoConfusable pair

Quick tell: quejado is a verb, querido is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quejado” is a verb and “querido” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,134
“quejado” frequency rank
#1,456
“querido” frequency rank
29590
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quejado querido
Definition Participio de quejar o de quejarse. Amado, que es objeto de amor o afecto.

Where the eye mixes quejado and querido

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
quejado
7 ch
querido

Look-alike desk: quejado vs querido

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quejado is [keˈxað̞o] while querido is [keˈɾið̞o]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29590, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quejado is recorded at frequency rank #28,134, classified as averb, pronounced [keˈxað̞o]. querido is at rank #1,456, tagged as anadj, pronounced [keˈɾið̞o].

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 29590, this pair ranks #216,239 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quejado vs querido

Shared letters: deoqu. Private to "quejado": aj. Private to "querido": ir.

"quejado" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "querido" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quejadoqeujado · qquejado · queajdo · quejaddo · quejaod · quejdao · quejjado · qujeado
  • queridoqeurido · qquerido · queirdo · querdio · queriddo · queriod · querrido · qureido

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quejado" for "querido" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quejado" is a verb and "querido" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "quejado" or "querido" show up more?
"querido" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,456 in our Spanish list, against #28,134 for "quejado". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quejado" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "querido" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #216,239 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quejado" and "querido" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quejado vs Quezada". 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 #216,239 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