quierevsquierenWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#228
“quiere” frequency rank
#459
“quieren” frequency rank
687
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature quiere quieren
Definition Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de querer. Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de querer.

Where the eye mixes quiere and quieren

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
quiere
7 ch
quieren

Look-alike desk: quiere vs quieren

A purely visual mix-up. quiere ([ˈkjeɾe]) and quieren ([ˈkjeɾẽn]) 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 extra letter(s) - “quiere” sits inside “quieren”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 687, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quiere is recorded at frequency rank #228, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈkjeɾe]. quieren is at rank #459, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈkjeɾẽn].

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 687, this pair ranks #323,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quiere vs quieren

Shared letters: eiqru. Private to "quiere": -. Private to "quieren": n.

"quiere" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV  ·  "quieren" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • quiereqiuere · qquiere · queire · quieer · quierre · quiree · uqiere
  • quierenqiueren · qquieren · queiren · quieern · quierenn · quierne · quierren · quireen

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quiere" and "quieren" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈkjeɾe] versus [ˈkjeɾẽn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "quiere" or "quieren" show up more?
"quiere" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #228 in our Spanish list, against #459 for "quieren". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "quiere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "quieren" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "quiere" and "quieren" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quiebran vs quieren". 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 #323,095 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