Which to use
“qu” is a noun and “quer” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,802
- “qu” frequency rank
- #129
- “quer” frequency rank
- 6931
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | qu | quer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cisne | ou |
Letter map: qu vs quer
Shared letters muted; letters that set qu and quer apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Role in the sentence - qu and quer
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: qu is anoun and queraconjunction. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “qu” sits inside “quer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6931, 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]. quer is at rank #129, tagged as aconj.
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 6931, this pair ranks #67,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of qu vs quer
Shared letters: qu. Private to "qu": -. Private to "quer": er.
"qu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "quer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- quer ← qeur · qquer · querr · qure · uqer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "qu" for "quer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "qu" vs "quer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "qu" and "quer".
- Full dictionary entry for "qu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "qu" and "quer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "qu vs quit". 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 #67,354 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.