quejóvsquemoTell them apart

Quick tell: quejó is a verb, quemo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quejó” is a verb and “quemo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,788
“quejó” frequency rank
#26,583
“quemo” frequency rank
47371
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quejó quemo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del pretérito perfecto simple de indicativo de quejar. Cosa, costumbre, hábito o práctica que ha pasado de moda.

Where the eye mixes quejó and quemo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
quejó
5 ch
quemo

Why the eye confuses quejó with quemo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quejó is [keˈxo] while quemo is [ˈkemo]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quejó is recorded at frequency rank #20,788, classified as averb, pronounced [keˈxo]. quemo is at rank #26,583, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈkemo].

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 47371, this pair ranks #120,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quejó vs quemo

Shared letters: equ. Private to "quejó": . Private to "quemo": mo.

"quejó" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "quemo" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quemoqeumo · qquemo · quemmo · queom · qumeo · uqemo

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quejó" and "quemo" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quejó" is a verb and "quemo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "quejó" vs "quemo" - which ranks higher?
"quejó" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,788 in our Spanish list, against #26,583 for "quemo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "quejó" and "quemo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quejó" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quemo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,417 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quejó" and "quemo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quemo vs Quim". 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 #120,417 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