quiebrevsquiereWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,810
“quiebre” frequency rank
#228
“quiere” frequency rank
22038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quiebre quiere
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de quebrar o de quebrarse. Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de querer.

Where the eye mixes quiebre and quiere

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

7 ch
quiebre
6 ch
quiere

Why the eye confuses quiebre with quiere

A purely visual mix-up. quiebre ([ˈkjeβ̞ɾe]) and quiere ([ˈkjeɾe]) 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 22038, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quiebre is recorded at frequency rank #21,810, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkjeβ̞ɾe]. quiere is at rank #228, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkjeɾe].

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 22038, this pair ranks #252,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quiebre vs quiere

Shared letters: eiqru. Private to "quiebre": b. Private to "quiere": -.

"quiebre" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV  ·  "quiere" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quiebre ← qiuebre · qquiebre · queibre · quibere · quiebbre · quieber · quiebrre · quierbe
  • quiere ← qiuere · qquiere · queire · quieer · quierre · quiree · uqiere

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "quiebre" and "quiere" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkjeβ̞ɾe] versus [ˈkjeɾe]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "quiebre" or "quiere"?
"quiere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #228 in our Spanish list, against #21,810 for "quiebre". 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 "quiebre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quiere" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,226 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quiebre" and "quiere" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quiebras vs quiebre". 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 #252,226 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