quemadavsquemanTell them apart

Quick tell: quemada is a participle, queman is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“quemada” is a participle and “queman” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,328
“quemada” frequency rank
#14,929
“queman” frequency rank
28257
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quemada queman
Definition Forma del femenino de quemado, participio de quemar o de quemarse. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de quemar o de quemarse.

Where the eye mixes quemada and queman

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. quemada runs 7 letters (CVVCVCV) against queman's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
quemada
6 ch
queman

Look-alike desk: quemada vs queman

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: quemada is [keˈmað̞a] while queman is [ˈkemãn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (participle vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28257, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quemada is recorded at frequency rank #13,328, classified as aparticiple, pronounced [keˈmað̞a]. queman is at rank #14,929, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkemãn].

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 28257, this pair ranks #222,912 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of quemada vs queman

Shared letters: aemqu. Private to "quemada": d. Private to "queman": n.

"quemada" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "queman" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quemada ← qeumada · qquemada · queamda · quemaad · quemadda · quemdaa · quemmada · qumeada
  • queman ← qeuman · qqueman · queamn · quemann · quemman · quemna · qumean · uqeman

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "quemada" for "queman" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "quemada" is a participle and "queman" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "quemada" or "queman" show up more?
"quemada" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,328 in our Spanish list, against #14,929 for "queman". 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 "quemada" and "queman" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "quemada" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "queman" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #222,912 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quemada" and "queman" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quemaban vs queman". 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 #222,912 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