quase vs que, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“quase” and “que” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#241
“quase” frequency rank: #4
“que” frequency rank: 245
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	quase	que
Definition	perto de; próximo	quanto, quão grande, qual de

Where the eye mixes quase and que

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch

quase

3 ch

que

Look-alike desk: quase vs que

A purely visual mix-up. quase (/ˈkwa.zi/) and que (/ˈkɨ/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 245, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

quase is recorded at frequency rank #241, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈkwa.zi/. 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 245, this pair ranks #75,396 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of quase vs que

Shared letters: equ. Private to "quase": as. Private to "que": -.

"quase" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "que" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

quase ← qause · qquase · quaes · quasse · qusae · uqase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "quase" and "que" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈkwa.zi/ versus /ˈkɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "quase" vs "que" - which ranks higher?

"que" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4 in our Portuguese list, against #241 for "quase". 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 "quase" 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 #75,396 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"quase" and "que" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "que 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 #75,396 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.