quem

//ˈkɐ̃j̃// pron

Letters

4 characters

Frequency Rank

#68

in Portuguese word usage

Misspellings

5

tracked variants

Confusables

13

similar word pairs

quem is aPortuguesepron. It means: pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas Pronounced /ˈkɐ̃j̃/. It ranks #68 in Portuguese word frequency. Often confused with qui and quer.

Key facts for quem
PropertyValue
Headwordquem
LanguagePortuguese
Part of speechPron
IPA/ˈkɐ̃j̃/
Letters4
Frequency rank#68
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of quem in Portuguese word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Portuguese entry for quem is 4 letters long, classified as apron, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈkɐ̃j̃/. Corpus data places it at rank #68 in overall Portuguese word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language.The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas".

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 5 documented wrong-spelling variants for quem, with forms such as "qeum", "qquem", and "quemm". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "qui", "quer", "quis", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct Portuguese form is quem, spelled Q-U-E-M, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: qeum,qquem,quemm,qume,uqem

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for quem

Misspelling Variants of "quem"

qeum4qquem5quemm5qume4uqem4
Misspelling Variants of "quem"

Frequency rank: #68 in Portuguese

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "quem"?
"quem" is spelled Q-U-E-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈkɐ̃j̃/.
What does "quem" mean?
As a pron, "quem" means: pronome que se refere a uma ou mais pessoas
What words are commonly confused with "quem"?
"quem" is commonly confused with "qui", "quer", "quis". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "quem"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "quem" is /ˈkɐ̃j̃/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "quem" come from?
"quem" is a Portuguese word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby Portuguese words

Other entries that begin with the letter Q in our Portuguese index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.