qu vs que, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“qu” is a noun and “que” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,802
“qu” frequency rank: #4
“que” frequency rank: 6806
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	qu	que
Definition	cisne	quanto, quão grande, qual de

Where the eye mixes qu and que

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

que

Why the eye confuses qu with que

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: qu is [ɡu] while que is /ˈkɨ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “qu” sits inside “que”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

qu is recorded at frequency rank #6,802, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡu]. que is at rank #4, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈkɨ/.

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 6806, this pair ranks #67,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of qu vs que

Shared letters: qu. Private to "qu": -. Private to "que": e.

"qu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "que" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "qu" for "que" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "qu" is a noun and "que" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "qu" or "que"?

"que" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4 in our Portuguese list, against #6,802 for "qu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "qu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "que" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #67,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"qu" and "que" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "qu vs quit". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #67,522 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.