quejarvsquejóWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,952
“quejar” frequency rank
#20,788
“quejó” frequency rank
39740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quejar quejó
Definition Expresar una persona un dolor físico o moral con palabras o gritos Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de quejar.

Where the eye mixes quejar and quejó

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
quejar
5 ch
quejó

Visual trap between quejar and quejó

A purely visual mix-up. quejar ([keˈxaɾ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quejar is recorded at frequency rank #18,952, classified as averb, pronounced [keˈxaɾ]. 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 39740, this pair ranks #162,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quejar vs quejó

Shared letters: ejqu. Private to "quejar": ar. Private to "quejó": ó.

"quejar" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "quejó" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quejarqeujar · qquejar · queajr · quejarr · quejjar · quejra · qujear · uqejar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quejar" and "quejó" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([keˈxaɾ] versus [keˈxo]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "quejar" or "quejó" show up more?
"quejar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,952 in our Spanish list, against #20,788 for "quejó". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "quejar" 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 #162,881 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quejar" and "quejó" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quejó vs Quero". 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 #162,881 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